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Nashville's Working Stiff Jamboree has been attracting poets, songwriters, & disaffiliated left-wingers to the
Tom House, a poet and self-described barroom singer (as well as co-founder of the showcase), is the most singularly gifted of the working stiffs, and the most prolific. More than 600 of his poems have appeared in print, from 1982 to '88 he edited and published Raw Bone, a independent
Though House, now 47, has been a published poet since his late teens, It didn't dawn on him to try his hand at songwriting until he was well into his 20s. "I got my first guitar when I was fifteen," he recalls. "I played some folk songs on it, but It just never entered my mind to write my own songs. I wrote on a He has self-released two cassette tapes of his original material; selections from these found their way onto Bloodshot Records' Nashville: The Other Side of the Alley compilation, released in 1996. 1997's The Neighborhood is Changing on Checkered Past is Tom's first full-length CD project. As someone who has labored much of his adult life to make ends meet, House's writing reveals a working-class alienation that's taken its toll on his dreams, personal life, and mental health. I-Its music's lilting, acoustic guitar-based melodies often belie the deep melancholy that clouds his lyrics. He never writes with a band in mind; his cadences are generally speaking too idiosyncratic to be fettered to a rhythm section. Tom is unconcerned: "You're not writing for someone else," he says. 'You write because you write." |
Springwater, a local tavern, for over a decade now. It's a resolutely democratic affair; the microphone In the back room is open to anyone with the nerve to take it. No one screens material. What matters within these walls is conviction. It always has, ever since this fertile Saturday night happening became a regular forum for unsung local artists.
