Today we’d like to introduce you to Tom Davis.
Hi Tom, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I grew up in Coshocton, Ohio, and started off on the saxophone in 6th grade. My band director, John Garren, taught the 3 saxes once per week in the janitor’s closet, and at another time during the week all of the band kids from all the local elementary schools would meet at the high school to play together. Mr. Garren and our other director, Barry Hardesty, were always super supportive and encouraging to everyone, and especially to those of us who were really into it. I picked up my dad’s old Sekova electric guitar during the summer after 7th grade specifically to jam with my drummer buddy Matt Iceman, with whom I played all the time through high school (he’s a heavy on the Nashville scene now!). With the unwavering support of my parents, I played guitar and some other instruments with lots of friends and bands in high school, and eventually I went to college at Capital University (2002-2006) to study jazz guitar with Stan Smith (and the rest of the incredible faculty!).
It was at Capital that I met and started playing with the guys in one of my current bands, Willie Nelson Mandela (now in it’s 21st year!).
From 2006-2010, I hoofed it all over Columbus knocking on doors for gigs and answering Craig’s List ads for bands, eventually putting together a wildly varied – and often pretty weird – schedule doing about 7 gigs per week.
From 2010-2014, my wife Lauren and I lived in Scotland, where I earned a Master’s degree in Musicology at the University of Edinburgh (pronounced “Edinbra”!) and went on to work there with amazing musicians across a variety of genres and enjoyed myriad unique opportunities and experiences.
When we moved back to Columbus in 2014, the scene was incredibly welcoming and forgiving of my wanderlust, and I was able to start playing again pretty quickly thanks to loads of pals old and new. Eventually, I started teaching music at different colleges, thanks once again to top quality pals (and the master’s in musicology was helpful also!): Kenyon College, Columbus College of Art and Design, Ohio Dominican, and finally landing in my alma mater of Capital University to work with my mentor Stan Smith.
Now I teach at Capital, play music with great musicians, and maintain a very active, varied, and rewarding performing and touring schedule.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The main struggles along the way are always going to be there to some extent – writer’s block, rejection, competition, comparison, imposter syndrome, gigs drying up, trying to fill your schedule, avoid burnout, etc. I’m a bit worried about the rise of artificial intelligence and how easily it’s been accepted by seemingly everyone to varying degrees, musically and otherwise. I mean haven’t they seen Terminator?! But in all seriousness, there’s always an underlying feeling for me that I’m gonna do this for as long as I can before whatever is going to happen, happens.
Pianist Bill Evans said it pretty well: “If you try to accept every problem you’re just going to go insane. So you have to choose some field in which you operate at your best capacity, and which will then serve as an influence to deter all these other things that you’re worrying about. So I figure if I take care of the music as best I can and with my truest beliefs, then all these other things will be affected as I desire them to be affected as much as I can affect them.”
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I play in a lot of groups, different styles, and different instruments. Not even counting the wildly varied things I’ve done regularly in the past both here and abroad, I’m pretty spread out. If I get to be proud of anything, I guess it’s that I can be musically versatile and authentic at least to the extent that I’m tolerated by all the great musicians and bands I get to play with regularly:
Willie Nelson Mandela (guitar; lava lamp classic rock covers), Flogo Shaggins (guitar; all original groovy funk/rock), Melanie Davis and the Madness (electric bass; eclectic original folk rock), Pete Mills B3 Quartet (guitar; straight ahead original B3 organ jazz), Vaughn Wiester’s Famous Jazz Orchestra (guitar; 50s big band jazz), Ray Massa’s Eurorhythms (guitar, mandolin, piano, vocals; Italian rock/pop/folk), Spectrum (guitar; Capital University Faculty jazz ensemble)…
Not to mention all the bands and people that I get play guitar or bass as a sub with or play one-offs with: Andy Shaw Band, Quasi Kings, Whirlybirds, Flippo, New Albany Symphony Orchestra, Dirty Money Live Band Karaoke, and loads of great individual jazz artists all over the city.
My band with Pete Mills just put out a new record, “For the Record”, which we are pretty excited about. Melanie and the Madness just put out a groovy new single also, called “Honey”. It’s all on all the streaming services, etc.
Flogo Shaggins has some groovy stuff in the mixing process that I hope to have time to finish up soon!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I’ve always been interested in music. I liked the puzzle of it all (still do). Learning by ear, experimenting with different instruments, reading music, figuring out what sounds good to me and why, figuring out how to play in different styles, etc. Now that I think of it, my first band was actually with my sister Lauren, when we were both pretty young, in the single digits. I strummed random open tunings on a plastic guitar and we both sang. We had two songs: “Frog Shark” and “Where the Dinosaurs Roamed”.
I wish I had taken actual lessons in high school – I just never thought of it. I sometimes wonder what things would be like if I hadn’t let myself wander aimlessly for so long, though I did study piano for a year or so in preparation for college with Barb Custer (“Mrs. Custer”, to me), who was a wonderful and patient teacher.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tomdavisguitar.com
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/tomdavisismyname
- Other: https://linktr.ee/tomdotcom
Image Credits
Lead image (b/w): Adam Berta Photo
Seated photo: Michael Cox
Standing in the grass photo: Abby Wimbiscus Black
