Tom was introduced to the local folk scene while in high school by attending a Ceilidh (folk jam) hosted by Mark Ryer, co-founder of the South Shore Folk Music Club, at the Duxbury Free Library. Here he was turned on to traditional music, as well as the songs of Michael Smith, Gordon Bok, and other contemporary folk musicians.
He wrote his first song at age thirteen, and continued to dabble in songwriting into his early twenties. Tom's first love was a circa 1960 Gibson Country Western guitar with "the sweetest neck" he'd ever run his fingers over.
For the next 15 years he turned his attentions to home and hearth, marrying his childhood sweetheart (and songwriting inspiration) and being a dad to his three sons.
Tom returned to the local folk scene after attending the 1997 Summer Acoustic Music Week (SAMW) sponsored by
WUMB: Folk Radio 91.9FM. This remarkable camp reawakened his inner musician, and he returned for the next seven years. There he was exposed to the incredible instrumental talents of David Surrette, Bennett Hammond, Joel Mabus; the inspirational songwriting talents of Bob Franke, Linda Waterfall, Kate Campbell, and Holly Tashian; and vocal training by Freyda Epstein and Charles Williams. SAMW spawned a song writing group that evolved to a performing group called "Safety in Numbers", which became
"New England Weather".
