| "One thing I have learned over the years is that booking entertainment for an event needs to follow the character and theme of the event - and not just what I personally want to listen to. This theme has come back to me time and time again. You were/are the perfect fit to emcee and perform at Tall Ship events. Everyone involved was thrilled with your participation!" --Craig Samborski, Tall Ships Duluth |
As part of his regular concerts and for special workshops and events, Tom also performs a vast array of traditional maritime music gathered together from archival research, books, recordings, and the repertoire of friends, who are themselves some of the finest maritime singers in the world. The songs include shanties and ballads from the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean, and Great Lakes, where Tom has been a professional sailor for over two decades.
Based on Tom's background in traditional music and traditional sailing, folklorist and veteran bluesman, Andy Cohen invited Tom to become part of "Folk University" and "Tradstock" at the International Folk Alliance Conference. They were joined, in Memphis, by tradition bearers such as Tracy Schwartz & Ginny Hawker and Enoch Kent. Recently Tom has been a featured performer at the Seamen's Bethel in New Bedford, the Annapolis Maritime Museum, a half dozen tall ship events, and at the sea music festivals in Halifax and Mystic Seaport
Tom has been published on the topic of maritime music, most recently with Chris Kastle in "From Lumber Hookers to the Hooligan Fleet: A Treasury of Chicago Maritime History" published by Lake Claremont Press. He and Chris continue to perform occasionally together and are the co-directors of the Chicago Maritime Festival.