John Schoenberger, Adult Album Alternative editor of Radio & Records, put it best: “Tom Sheehan is an artist that you need to know about.”
Songwriter Tom Sheehan is to popular music what director Oliver Stone is to film. Tom's evocative songs find their roots in the news, human relationships and the world around us—with a very apparent point of view. His writing is emotional and insightful, casting new light on familiar events, people and issues. And while certainly not the first to fuse social commentary with rock music, Tom does so from a unique perspective—an insightful point of view tempered by experience.
Not surprisingly, Tom’s 19 North Records releases, Where You Are (1998), Film at Eleven (2000), and the upcoming Confession in the Back Room are not your typical pop music fare, blending hook-laden music with evocative, cinematic lyrics.
Progressive radio has embraced Tom's work. At Adult Rock and Major College Radio, both Where You Are and Film at Eleven gained fast acceptance along side new releases by such industry heavyweights as The Wallflowers, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Mark Knopfler, Paul Simon and Lenny Kravitz with over 120 Adult Album Alternative (AAA) and Major College radio stations playing the albums.
At Adult Contemporary (A/C) radio, the single “It’s Only Love” from Film at Eleven was the #2 Most Added song on the FMQB-A/C chart in its first week of release, peaking at #34 on the FMQB-A/C chart and at #17 on CMJ—a bonafide nationwide hit.
Additionally, his first album, 1998’s Where You Are, spawned two AAA radio hits: “Die Like Elvis,” an infectious Memphis-blues rocker, and the ethereal title track which grew out of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Both records also received substantial airplay in Europe.
The trade press has heaped critical praise on Sheehan, as well. The influential radio industry trade magazine, Gavin, said, “Sheehan’s cinematic approach to the music is what makes it stand out. Each song is like a screenplay…well-crafted…melodic.” Album Network, said “Just like the nightly news, Tom Sheehan delivers.” And The Friday Morning Quarterback said, “Like a painter, Tom Sheehan uses his words and music to let you see the big picture. ‘It’s Only Love’ is not your typical pop song, but that’s what makes it stand out. But perhaps Sheehan’s greatest gift is his ability to write without mincing any words. Don’t over look this one.”
Live, Tom’s occasional solo acoustic performances present an intimate experience of the songs on Where You Are and Film at Eleven as well as songs from the forthcoming Confession in the Back Room and always a few surprises. His live performances are in many ways even more powerful than the studio versions, with stripped down treatments that bring his insightful, and often chilling, lyrics to the forefront.
He is most at home, though, as a writer...an artist with a gifted vision...and a unique view of the world...an artist that you need to know about.
Film at eleven.
History
Writing and performing since 1975, Tom Sheehan is no overnight sensation. A veteran of the Mid-Atlantic club and college scene, Tom has played over 1,500 shows throughout the United States. “I think I’ve played every stop on the ‘foreplay lounge’ circuit,” jokes Tom.
Tom’s performing career technically began in 1968 at age ten, playing Christmas carols with his brother on a B-3 in the window of the Hammond Organ Studios in Kansas City. In grammar school and high school, he played in a variety of garage bands, performing at school assemblies and functions. At 16 came his first “professional” performance, a one-hour set at a now long-defunct Reading (PA) bar.
“Then I saw the Eagles,” Tom recalls, “and when I heard that crowd roar after Glenn (Frey) played the first few notes of ‘Doolin’ Dalton,’ I was hooked.”
He went on to devour what he calls “songwriter’s” music-Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Lowell George, JJ Cale, Warren Zevon, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen—writing his first song at 17. “It was really horrible,” says Tom, “but the satisfaction of creating something from nothing was liberating.”
In college at Penn State, Tom spent more time performing than studying. “I majored in bar bands, girls and advertising, in that order,” he says. “State College was a wonderful music town with an enormous opportunity for bands and singers. Plus, there were two things that were popular with the girls at Penn State: football players and bar singers—I was in heaven!”
“There was an emphasis on original music in the bars at Penn State long before it was popular elsewhere,” Sheehan says, “but you were still basically a jukebox with legs—or you weren’t working.” And work, he did, crisscrossing the region playing bars and other colleges in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey and New York throughout his college life.
“One show that will forever stick in my mind is a job I had at a bar in Asbury Park, NJ,” says Tom. “I played happy hour at a place called Mrs. J’s Open Air Beer Garden and Pizzeria on Ocean Avenue, and one afternoon, in the middle of my set, who walks in and sits down at the bar but Bruce Springsteen. Talk about nervous! I didn’t know what to do, so I just bought him a drink, waved hello and kept on playing.”
Bruce remains a heavy influence on Tom’s music. “I learned about songwriting from listening to Glenn Frey, Lowell George and Jackson Browne, but I learned about performing by watching Bruce Springsteen,” says Tom. “I’ve probably seen Bruce play 40 or 50 times since 1973, and I always come away completely amazed by the E Street Band.”
After college, Tom spent another year on the road, playing hotels and bars, learning to read a crowd and perform what he calls “the soundtrack to their individual movies.” Then came more traditional employment in advertising, marketing and public relations, a career that has coexisted with his music for almost three decades.
“I basically got a job so I could afford to continue making music,” Tom says, “and I’ve followed the road wherever it has taken me.”
For Tom, music has remained purely art for art’s sake and a labor of love. Today, he is the owner of the advertising agency that bears his name (whose clients coincidentally have included Glenn Frey). He was also a partner in, and co-developer of, the award-winning Lincoln Plaza Hotel & Conference Center, a restored grand hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania (now a Wyndham).
Whatever the endeavor, Tom carries with him a strong commitment to craftsmanship and integrity. “My father taught me two very important things about life: anything worth doing is worth doing right, and never, ever give up.”
With 1998’s Where You Are, 2000's Film at Eleven and the anticipation for his new release, Confession in the Back Room, Tom is on his way toward realizing a vision that started 40 years ago in a Christmas storefront window in Kansas City.
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More information about Tom Sheehan is available at www.19north.com.
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