Goldfinger(s)
With his eternal clean cut student face, short hair and fancy cow-boy shirts, Tom Feldmann looks like almost anybody but a rock star. But as the proverb says, you can't judge a book by its cover. When Feldmann picks up his acoustic or steel resonator guitar, he could make a lot of so-called guitar hero and other six-string slingers look like beginners ! This guy has ten golden fingers and knows how to use them to deliver one of the best finger-picking and slide styles of the world, on acoustic regular, slide or steel guitar. Folk and/or country blues, gospel blues, Delta or Piedmont style, solo or with a three-piece acoustic band, he can play anything provided it's "interwar" music (1920s-1940s).
Tom was born in May 1978 the youngest of four boys. He started to learn how to play guitar as an autodidact at the age of 17 listening and studying old legendary bluesmen like Bukka White, Lightnin' Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt, Fred McDowell and many other Delta musicians. A year later, at 18, he was already good enough to perform at local Minneapolis venues. For three years, he worked so hard at sharpening his guitar and vocal skills that when he stepped into a studio and recorded his debut solo acoustic blues album, "Lay It On You", he was just 21 !
Feldmann, who settled in Montrose, Minnesota, unfortunately doesn't tour as much as he could due to family reasons : his wife Naomi, who gave him two children, has serious cardiac problems. To make up for this, he's devoting a big part of his time teaching guitar through workshops, videos and numerous instructional DVDs, particularly for Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop, by contributing articles to magazines like Acoustic Guitar and Vintage Guitar, and also working alongside Jorma Kaukonen at his famous Fur Peace Ranch guitar training center.
As years went by, his unique ability to perfectly replicate a song note-for-note by first deconstructing it, then reconstruct it piece by piece, chord by chord, string by string, has made of Feldmann, soon 44 and over 15 albums in his basket, a blues historian and preservationist but not a hardcore purist : in his interpretations he favors the spirit of the songs rather than a strict shortsighted note-for-note copy-cat rendition, arguing that their original creator were far from always playing them in the same monolithic way. "Many people have a view with a very clear hard line that the original musicians probably did not hold, he explains on "The Country Blues" Web site. Just because they recorded these songs one way, does not mean that they always played it the same way, or that these were the only types of music they played. Most of these musicians in the 1920s and 30s played all types of genres and styles. Most did not themselves draw a hard line. Many opinions that people today hold are simply based on fallacy."
He also explained a few years ago to Vintage Guitar Magazine that though he has a fair amount of rag songs in his repertoire, he "learned to play from the Delta side more than anything else. I really don’t mess around much with the Piedmont players, as they never hit me as hard as the Delta ones". When asked what are for him the best "interwar" bottleneck players, he answers : "Son House, Charley Patton, Sam Collins, Bukka White and Fred McDowell. They really shaped how I play. Also check out Black Ace, Casey Bill Weldon, Tampa Red, and Oscar 'Buddy Woods' for a more “city” style."
Lone Wolf Blues clearly shows what Feldmann calls "the gospel sides of [his] blues influences", adding that this album "joins country blues with gospel, two forms of early American music that have always walked hand-in-hand".
Before going any further, let's point out the outstanding technical quality of the recorded sound : it's just amazing and serves magnificently both Feldmann's fine slide and finger-picking work and his gritty voice.
Through the sixteen tracks of this album, he takes us along for a throw-back spiritual voyage from the Mississippi Delta to the hills of the Piedmont region and to Texas : from Bukka White (the excellent "Special Streamline", "Sic Em Dogs"), Fred McDowell ("Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning"), Mississippi John Hurt (the outstanding "Here Am I Oh Lord Send Me") to Son House (the great slide version of "Shetland Pony Blues"), Sylvester Weaver ("Guitar Rag") and Muddy Waters (through a rhythmic slide medley), from Barbecue Bob ("Yo Yo Blues") to Blind Boy Fuller ("Homesick And Lonesome Blues" in a version that already announce what will later become rock'n'roll) and Rev. Gary Davis ("Oh Glory How Happy I Am"), from Blind Willie Johnson ("God Don't Never Change") to Oscar "Buddy" Woods ("Lone Wolf Blues", a lesson of steel resonator guitar slide style).
He even proposes three of his own gospel compositions as tributes to these great elders who inspired him so much : "We Have Overcome", "Ever Flowing Fountain" and "Level The Hollow". Any listener unaware of this would take Feldmann's songs for old spirituals from the interwar era.
And then there is his beautifully moving version of the traditional "Delia" showing, if need be, his mastery of fingerstyle and his vocal ability to express the feeling of deep sorrow of the song.
What else to say to conclude ? That this is a really great and precious album ? It's an evidence. That all lovers of old country and gospel blues should listen to it closely ? It's an evidence too. That Feldmann takes us with him for a magnificent tour back in the golden era of rural blues ? What else ? ■
Tom Feldmann discography
● 2021 - Brothers in the Mud (with Noah Levy)
● 2017 - Dyed in the Wool
● 2015 - Spanish Fandango (feat. Don Flemons)
● 2015 - Stocktime (feat. Mikkel Beckmen)
● 2014 - Delta Blues & Spirituals
● 2012 - Lone Wolf Blues
Lone Wolf Blues clearly shows what Feldmann calls "the gospel sides of [his] blues influences", adding that this album "joins country blues with gospel, two forms of early American music that have always walked hand-in-hand".
Before going any further, let's point out the outstanding technical quality of the recorded sound : it's just amazing and serves magnificently both Feldmann's fine slide and finger-picking work and his gritty voice.
And then there is his beautifully moving version of the traditional "Delia" showing, if need be, his mastery of fingerstyle and his vocal ability to express the feeling of deep sorrow of the song.
What else to say to conclude ? That this is a really great and precious album ? It's an evidence. That all lovers of old country and gospel blues should listen to it closely ? It's an evidence too. That Feldmann takes us with him for a magnificent tour back in the golden era of rural blues ? What else ? ■
Tom Feldmann discography
● 2017 - Dyed in the Wool
● 2015 - Spanish Fandango (feat. Don Flemons)
● 2015 - Stocktime (feat. Mikkel Beckmen)
● 2014 - Delta Blues & Spirituals
● 2012 - Lone Wolf Blues
● 2008 - Tin Roof Sky (with the Get-Rites)
● 2007 - Pedal Steel Heaven (with the Get-Rites)
● 2007 - Side Show Revival (with the Get-Rites)
● 2005 - Driven To My Knees (with the Get-Rites)
● 2004 - The Night That Johnny Died (tribute to Johnny Cash – single)
● 2004 - Live From Studio One
● 2003 - Blues Stomps, Honky-Tonks, Jigs and Reels
● 2001 - Live...Last Night
● 2001 - Prelude to a Fistfight
● 2001 - Cedar Falls Session – live
● 2001 - Drunk Man's Dream
● 1999 - Lay It On You
● 2007 - Pedal Steel Heaven (with the Get-Rites)
● 2007 - Side Show Revival (with the Get-Rites)
● 2005 - Driven To My Knees (with the Get-Rites)
● 2004 - The Night That Johnny Died (tribute to Johnny Cash – single)
● 2003 - Blues Stomps, Honky-Tonks, Jigs and Reels
● 2001 - Live...Last Night
● 2001 - Prelude to a Fistfight
● 2001 - Cedar Falls Session – live
● 2001 - Drunk Man's Dream
● 1999 - Lay It On You
▲ The Get-Rites are Tom Feldmann (guitar/vocal), Jed Staack (drums), Paul Liebenow (upright bass) and Jed Germond (pedal steel guitar).
Tom on the Web
● https://tomfeldmann.com/
● https://www.facebook.com/tomfeldmannmusic/
Albums (audio only)
● "Delta Blues & Spirituals" : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nB1FQtQv_yrQvsJRKsL3zeK7Se2ANsFx0
● "Brothers In The Mud", full album by Tom Feldmann (guitar/vocal) & Noah Levy (drums) : https://youtu.be/6dnEQEWmVRQ
→ "Side Show Revival" : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nQiBVxwslLrl7Qukl2yugHNk9uKxRMZms
→ "Tribute-The Gospel sides of..." : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mg1upOnNslL9gDZ53ammc4JaQiUfLzHUA
→ "Tin Roof Sky" : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kCVn3b7ZVPSq8E4AAMq-PvTJ9H8MsmcTI
→ "Pedal Steel Heaven": https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mveeCprvZOfyDhMy_z-Jp3VijCwFYODbE
The Master
● Tom Feldmann YT channel : https://www.youtube.com/c/PlayCountryBlues/featured
● Tom Feldmann on GtrWorkShp : https://www.youtube.com/user/GtrWorkShp/search?query=tom%20feldmann
● Tom Feldmann on Vintage Guitar : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaynhNdfLBF70iOu3mqj4yoPb2pn8xRxY
● "Moanin' The Blues" on Fingerpicking.net : https://youtu.be/6RGSoag9D7M
The Performer
→ Goin' Away Baby (Jimmy Rogers) : https://youtu.be/QTomAkMh3H8
→ Southside Boogie (Tom Feldmann) : https://youtu.be/La0LtsB3geE
→ "God Don't Never Change" (Blind Willie Johnson) : https://youtu.be/pvUL3kyIwy8
● On "Horses Sing None of It" in 2014 : https://youtu.be/8qsqPIOMNBU
● Muddy Waters Medley at the LumberJam Americana Music Festival : https://youtu.be/wxf7g_mL4wY
● "Fast Living, Slow Suicide" at the Red Dragon in Baton Rouge in 2011 : https://youtu.be/MP9VuvsQkAQ
● At Folk Night At HeBrews in 2010 : https://youtu.be/x7i2SbsAHyY
Tom Feldmann & the Get-Rites
→ "I'd Rather Have Jesus": https://youtu.be/AMUqQWJjpwA
→ "Gypsy Russian Rose" : https://youtu.be/YmuP6SPWGvk
→ "10,000 Chains" : https://youtu.be/HTv_bucDCHY
● At the Dunn Brothers coffee house in Excelsior, Minnesota, in 2008 :
► TF solo :
→ "Level The Hollow" : https://youtu.be/9uv86U9Q1A4
→ "I Can't Be Satisfied" (Muddy Waters) : https://youtu.be/IKpf44qzook
→ "Converted" : https://youtu.be/OMy-qbINbXg
► With the Get-Rites :
→ "Stand Your Test In Judgment" : https://youtu.be/WxLRUcSdCes
→ "Psalm" : https://youtu.be/bcjmAVmLnqg
→ "Run to the River is Redeemed" : https://youtu.be/gndSFbpV6iI
→ "Salvation" : https://youtu.be/4cYZbCXlC0o
→ "Sing, Dance, Shout" : https://youtu.be/p6W7IcPQGRQ
→ "Seven Trumpets" : https://youtu.be/4qiP7UXx3Ng
→ "10,000 Chains" : https://youtu.be/WVZj3ZEYFrg
→ "Turn Around" : https://youtu.be/Q0GhvF7Dl0U
→ "Life to the Dying" : https://youtu.be/sf3TIf6-Jr4
→ "Pedal Steel Heaven" : https://youtu.be/r5FH5L2OE_Y
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