Out 19 June
Snap shot:
- Australian singer-songwriter with a Midwestern twist
- Outback Australia meets the I-65
- O1 visa accredited, two years living in Chicago
- songs and stories from the road less travelled woven together for immersive performances
- 25K + monthly listeners across online platforms
- extensive touring history USA & Australia
- Solo, duo or band formats
- previous performances at: FAI, Port Fairy Folk Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, SXSW, City Winery
Tom West - Bio
Tom West is a songwriter, singer, guitarist, bus driver, tour guide, legal advocate for injured workers and meanderer living on beautiful Kaurna Country, South Australia.
Amassing millions of streams, his songs have featured in places like Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, The Australian, Post to Wire, American Songwriter and other corners of the internet.
Described as having a unique androgynous voice and folk sensibility, he has performed on stages at SXSW, the Port Fairy Folk Festival, dive bars, clubs, country pubs and his own backyard.
Needing a fresh start after trying his luck as an independent touring musician living in Chicago, he spent an unhinged few years picking up odd jobs, driving a Canadian band’s tour bus, and ferrying tourists to and from Uluru in Australia’s mystic red centre.
Long meditative hours on open roads were the perfect opportunity to process the previous years of misadventures and prepare to release new music in 2027 as a hopelessly optimistic songwriter and accidental road warrior.
MORE INFO
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Genre: Indie Folk / Singer-Songwriter
Formats: Solo / Duo / Band
For fans of: Stu Larsen, Glorietta, Paper Kites, Amistat
Notable appearances: SXSW · Port Fairy Folk Festival
Contact: thomasjswest@gmail.com
Tom West - Performance
Tom West performs immersive songwriter sets built around fingerpicked guitar, distinctive vocals and storytelling, appearing solo or accompanied by upright bass and/or a full band.
West regularly works with musicians in both Australia and the USA, allowing performances to be configured locally for solo, duo or band appearances.
See ‘Hush’, recorded live in Chicago with Ethan Philion, for an example of storytelling in performance.
“**** With his unique voice, storytelling and folk sensibility he could pass for a modern-day Neil Young.” - Courier Mail
“A Folk Singer From Outer Space’ somehow offers some soothing solace for the current, permeating state of loss and isolation.’ - American Songwriter
’Peninsula’ has a beguiling and baroque folk feel, hushed yet gently exclamatory in the way it treads lightly but briskly. Bands like Grizzly Bear and Iron & Wine come to mind in the ornate musical filigrees of guitar strings and the really wonderful blend of Tom and Lucinda’s contrasting yet wholly compatible voices. At 1:20 it blossoms into a beautiful coterie of sounds akin to the first rays of a new morning. - Post To Wire
One Way Conversation is one of the best tracks on the album. Written with Tom West, the song is somewhat reminiscent to Aimee Mann. Slightly haunting and sleepy and also vocally brilliant, this track is top tier! - Building Our Own Nashville
“**** With his unique voice, storytelling and folk sensibility he could pass for a modern-day Neil Young.” - Courier Mail
Lead vocalist and songwriter Dani Stone shares: "Collaborating with Tom on 'Undertow' was such a cool process. I was struggling with writer’s block on the chorus of this song, and had pretty much given up on it. I’ve always loved Tom’s melodies and poeticism in his lyrics, though. I knew he was the right person to collaborate with in order to make the song come out right. The best thing is, it came out even better than we’d hoped.” - Grateful Web
“A document to accompany self-reflection and meditation. I’m Livin’ is truly special.” - Rolling Stone Australia
“One of the best albums of 2020” - Scenster
“His keening, androgynous voice - in an upper register that recalls Brian Aubert, frontman of Los Angeles indie rockers Silversun Pickups - is a joyously tuneful instrument, meshing with his finger-picked guitars, sprinklings of piano, bass and Ringo - like drums. West’s material … is consistently strong, with memorably melodic choruses…”
- The Australian
“Tom’s latest cut is a poignantly earnest slice of indie-folk that is bound to pull at your heartstrings...creating a sound that is undeniably cinematic and powerful.”
- The Vinyl District UK