Now landed on Teesside after a meandering journey across all corners of England, Tom Blackwell emerged from the Manchester folk club circuit, where he discovered the country, blues and gospel music that would become the foundations of his work.

Between 2010-2011 a succession of homemade recorded demo collections garnered somewhat of a cult following. In 2012 The Viper label of Liverpool (The La’s, Edgar Jones) released a compilation of these tracks. The record received support from BBC Radio 2 & 6 Music.

After a tumultuous start to 2014, Blackwell found himself embarking on a 3 month pilgrimage of America. Armed only with a guitar and the clothes on his back, he travelled thousands of miles over rail and bus, before a chance meeting in Nashville with sound engineer Matt Wyman led to the recording of Tyrone The Gun. The album found critical acclaim and named as one of Country Music People magazine's albums of the year in 2015

In 2018 he decided to undertake an archive project to document his early material in the barest of forms. The ‘Memphis Volumes’ were just that, hushed vocal and guitar takes captured in various Merseyside dwellings onto an old four track cassette recorder.

His second official long player, Regency Cafe was released in the late summer of 2023 and followed by the ‘Moonbeamer’ E.P. A new album is due in Autumn this year after a successful Winter tour at the back end of 2024

A prolific writer with a visceral and dynamic performance style, Blackwell has been playing across the UK and beyond for the last 15 years. He has shared the stage with artists such as legendary Love guitarist Johnny Echols, and supported many other illustrious names, including Terry Reid, Langhorne Slim and Bernard Butler.

“A TALENT AS BIG AS THE SKY”

R2 Magazine

“WONDERFUL, HEARTFELT MUSIC”

Whispering Bob Harris BBC Radio 2