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"One of the most original new artists I have heard in
a long time. With his unique approach to guitar and his vocal interpretations
of traditional and his original tunes, he has managed to create music that is
all his own." - Woody Mann .
Tom Doughty plays his guitars most days and performs both in
the U.K. and internationally. Tom can truly be described as having a unique
method of playing lap slide guitar. This man's music is free, full of expression
and range, and makes addictive listening.
Tom released his first Album, "The Bell" to critical
acclaim in 2002 and plays regularly in public. He was featured on the Paul Jones'
show on BBC National Radio 2 in December 2003, and again on 6th September, 2005,
with tracks from "Running Free" the new album.
"Running Free" is a natural musical progression for
Doughty - rooted in blues, but with more of his own compositions and a developing
interest in widening the appeal and scope of his style of playing.
The album includes four personal interpretations of songs that
are particularly warm to this man's heart and have a very different and distinctive
arrangement for lap slide guitar.
"Real Emotional Girl", the Randy Newman song, first
came to me when hearing the album Trouble in Paradise in the 70's. The economy
and simplicity of the words and melody just grabbed me, but with such impact.
My interpretation has lots of space in the accompaniment. I think this minimalist
approach brings out the best in the lyric.
The Beatles were everywhere as I was a kid. One of the first
riffs I played was the opening bars from "Money" on their second Album
- "With The Beatles". This got hammered out from our garage (I was
banished there for making too much noise) when I was about eight. "Eleanor
Rigby" is a wonderful tune. This interpretation is individualistic and
strays away from the original tune, being improvised around the main theme.
"Ev'ry time we say goodbye" was a song that was regularly
played at home on a Sunday morning. Dad used to play his records then and had
a recording of Ella Fitzgerald singing this tune. We would swoon about listening
to it over breakfast.
I first heard the line for "Black Orpheus" being
played by a friend Trevor Lawrence in a dorm in Columbia University a few years
ago. It grabbed me and I was able to improvise around the theme, which was vaguely
familiar from someplace by in the memory bank. I am so lucky to be able to bring
this tine into the air as a duet with the fantastic New York musician, Woody
Mann.
Defining Tom as an Acoustic Blues guitarist is too small to
convey the range of moods and styles in his playing.
"Tom Doughty is possessed of a deep musical soul, that
magic link between feeling and movement which makes the slide guitar such an
individual instrument. His touch is wide ranging, and his music is full of big
feeling. In a world of derivative and imitative slide guitarists, Tom's sound
is unique and special." - Bob Brozman .
The Bell |
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Running Free |
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