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Despite more
than four
decades of
recording and
performing, the
only sign that
Tom Paxton may
be slowing down
a bit is that
his past is
catching up to
him. In 2005, he
received a
Lifetime
Achievement
Award for
Songwriting
at BBC Radio
2’s Folk
Awards in
London. The
following year,
he was the
recipient of a
2006 Lifetime
Achievement
Award from
the
North American
Folk Music and
Dance Alliance,
honoring “those
who have devoted
their life’s
work and talent
to the
advancement of
folk music and
dance.” And in
January 2007,
the British
Parliament
paid official
tribute to his
life and work,
in which Lord
Neil Kinnock
described
Paxton, a
perennial UK
favorite, as
“one of the
great
folksingers. His
is the real
voice of
America; he
speaks for
decent
Americans.”
In the 45 years
since Tom
started
performing
regularly in New
York’s Greenwich
Village, he’s
earned his place
as one of the
great “singing
journalists,” in
the tradition of
Woody Guthrie,
Pete Seeger,
Phil Ochs and
the early Bob
Dylan; as a
pioneer in the
early-Sixties
transition from
performing
traditional folk
songs to
original,
personal
compositions;
and as one of
our finest
contemporary
songwriters.
Although his own
records have
never sold in
the quantities
they merited,
Paxton originals
such as “The
Last Thing on My
Mind,” “The
Marvelous Toy”
and “Ramblin’
Boy” reached a
wider public
through cover
versions by more
“commercial”
folk acts – the
Chad Mitchell
Trio, Peter,
Paul & Mary, and
the Kingston
Trio. The
Fireballs had a
Top 10 hit with
Tom’s goodtimey
“Bottle of Wine”
in 1968. As
early as 1969,
Paxton’s status
as an
underappreciated
craftsman was
noted in Lillian
Roxon’s seminal
Rock
Encyclopedia:
“The trouble
with Tom Paxton
is that he’s
been too good
too long and
people take him
for granted . .
.”
But sometimes
good things do
come to those
who wait. In
addition to the
recent honors
mentioned above,
Paxton has
enjoyed much
long-overdue
appreciation in
the 21st
Century. In
2002, he
received a
Lifetime
Achievement
Award from
the American
Society of
Composers,
Artists and
Publishers
(ASCAP), and
three “Wammies”
(Washington, DC,
Area Music
Awards) as “Best
Male Vocalist”
in both the
“traditional
folk” and
“children’s
music”
categories and
for “Best
Traditional Folk
Recording of the
Year” for Under
American Skies,”
his duo CD with
frequent
collaborator
Anne Hills on
Appleseed. His
2001 CD
Your Shoes, My
Shoes
was a Grammy
finalist in the
“Children Music”
category, and
2002’s
Looking for the
Moon was
a Grammy
finalist as
“Best
Contemporary
Folk Album.”
Born in Chicago
on Halloween in
1937 but
transplanted
with his family
to tiny Bristow,
Oklahoma, at age
10, Paxton
caught the music
bug for R&B,
classical and
folk music in
junior high
school. Although
he entered the
University of
Oklahoma as a
drama major, his
attraction to
folk music
blossomed and he
acquired an
acoustic guitar
as a sophomore.
“By the time I
got out of
college . . . I
loved this music
so much that I
had to
try it. . . . I
had undergone a
chromosomal
change after
hearing
The Weavers At
Carnegie Hall
album.”
As a fresh-faced
Army reservist
stationed at New
Jersey’s Fort
Dix, Paxton was
within commuting
distance of
Greenwich
Village,
sleeping on
friends’ floors
and performing
in small “basket
houses” for
change. After
his six-month
stint in the
reserves ended,
Paxton became a
Village fixture
by mid-’62, one
of the first of
the new crop of
folksingers to
write original
material,
helping to open
the floodgates
of the
singer-songwriter
movement,
alongside Bob
Dylan, Phil
Ochs, Fred Neil,
Dave Van Ronk
and others. As
the outspoken
musical activist
Steve Earle
recently told No
Depression
magazine, “The
singer-songwriter
thing came out
of the folk
movement. The
first guys who
wrote their own
songs were Dylan
and Tom Paxton.
They were both
really good.” On
a West Coast
tour in 1963,
Tom “discovered”
another young
singer-songwriter,
Eric Andersen, a
future
label-mate on
Appleseed, in
San Francisco
and sent him
back east to
join the musical
party.
In 1964, Paxton
was signed to
Elektra Records,
the flagship
label for
creative folk
music, and
recorded
Ramblin’ Boy,
his first of an
estimated 35 or
40 albums. The
following year,
Paxton made his
first of many
annual tours of
Great Britain.
At the 1969 Isle
of Wight
Festival in the
UK, Paxton’s
performance
stole the show
from the most
popular rock
bands of the day
and solidified
his English fan
base. He lived
in London during
the early ’70s,
collaborated
with various
British folk
stars, including
Ralph McTell and
Danny Thompson,
and recorded his
first of many
albums of
children’s songs
in 1974.
After returning
to the States,
Paxton became a
beloved constant
on the folk
circuit,
acclaimed for
the depth and
wit of his songs
and the humor he
brought – and
still brings –
to his dozens of
yearly
performances.
Tom is a
delightful
storyteller with
or without a
guitar in his
hands, and since
1987 has written
the text for
more than a
dozen children’s
books. Whether
Tom sings of
love, as on
Comedians &
Angels,
of topical
events (in his
ongoing series
of “short
shelf-life
songs”
frequently
posted for free
download on his
website), of
toys and measles
and holidays (on
his children’s
CDs), or of the
everyday lives
and world that
surrounds him,
what’s left of
the “real”
America couldn’t
have a better
spokesman.
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