Tom Hambridge
Believe it or not, since my last interview with Tom Hambridge in 2014, Tom has produced 17 more albums, received 27 award nominations, six of which he won, played drums and/or sang on 19 other artist’s albums, made numerous TV appearances, toured extensively and now, he’s about to release his 7th solo album THE NOLA SESSIONS … In 2016 alone, Hambridge added another 93 cuts, to his songwriting discography which already boasts the likes of Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Susan Tedeschi, George Thorogood, Joe Bonamassa, Quinn Sullivan, Keb’ Mo’, Eric Burdon, Delbert McClinton, Johnny Winter, Colin Linden, ZZ Top, BB King, Steve Cropper & Felix Cavaliere, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Meat Loaf, Kenny Neal, Shemekia Copeland, Van Zant, T. Graham Brown, The Outlaws, Jack Ingram, Taylor Hicks, Rascal Flatts, Joe Nichols, Chris Young, Gretchen Wilson, Danny Gokey, Billy Ray Cyrus, Lee Roy Parnell, Pat Green, Hank Williams Jr., Montgomery Gentry, Rodney Atkins, Ronnie Dunn and the list goes on … and on, including Keith Anderson’s song ‘Every Time I Hear Your Name’ co-written by Hambridge and Jeffrey Steele, which won a 2007 ASCAP Country Music Song Award.
Hambridge is a writing machine who, not only has 500 cuts in multiple genres but over 50 producer, songwriter and musician awards including 2 Grammys, 5 Grammy nominations and a boat-load of Blues Music & Blues Blast Awards. The unique thing about Tom’s career is that he gets to produce, co-write and tour globally with both, legends like Buddy Guy and James Cotton and some of the Hottest new young artists, on the planet, like Quinn Sullivan. Hell, Mick Jagger even asked Tom to play drums for him, at the White House. But don’t think for one minute that Hambridge was un-known before he arrived in Nashville. After graduating from Berklee, between 1988 and 1999 he won 6 Boston Music Awards and was band-leader for Martha & The Vandellas, Bo Diddley, Little Anthony, Chuck Berry and he played drums with the band Boston.
Today, a review of Tom’s Grammy awards and nominations alone, speaks volumes about his journey. His first Grammy nomination came in 1998 for Best Contemporary Blues Album when he produced Susan Tedeschi’s album JUST WON’T BURN. Then, in 2004 Hambridge received his second Grammy Nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album: Johnny Winter – I’M A BLUESMAN and in 2009 his 3rd Grammy Nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album: Buddy Guy – SKIN DEEP, which featured Eric Clapton, Susan & Derek Trucks Tom wrote 10 of the 12 songs including three with Gary Nicholson, including the title track.
In 2011 Hambridge produced Buddy Guy’s – LIVING PROOF which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album featuring all 12 songs written by Tom, 4 songs he co-wrote with Gary Nicholson and 4 co-writes with Richard Fleming and in 2013 Tom also produced Buddy Guy’s double album RHYTHM & BLUES, which was Buddy’s biggest charting album ever, as the album debuted at Number 1 on Billboard’s Blues Chart. The album includes guest star performances by Kid Rock, Keith Urban, Gary Clark Jr., Beth Hart and The Muscle Shoals Horns and Steven Tyler, Joe Perry & Brad Whitford of Aerosmith and featured an amazing 18 Tom Hambridge original songs. In 2014 Hambridge received another Grammy Nomination for Best Blues Album: James Cotton – COTTON MOUTH MAN Tom wrote 12 songs on this album which included appearances by Gregg Allman, Joe Bonamassa, Ruthie Foster, Delbert McClinton, Warren Hayes, Keb Mo, Chuck Leavell and Colin Linden and last year Tom produced Buddy Guy’s – BORN TO PLAY GUITAR won the Grammy for Best Blues Album, which included 13 Tom Hambridge songs including the song ‘Flesh & Bone’ featuring Van Morrison.
So far this year, Hambridge will been touring with Buddy Guy, he’s scheduled to produce a new album on Nashville artist and American Idol runner up Casey James, he’ll be doing some tour dates with his own band The Rattlesnakes, he’s currently working on a new documentary about Quinn Sullivan’s life, he’ll be releasing his 7th solo album THE NOLA SESSIONS and Tom was honored when he was asked to lend his name to, the first annual Tom Hambridge Americana Music Festival, which is coming up on June 25 in Buffalo, New York, his home town. The Mayor of Buffalo also proclaimed December 28th as Tom Hambridge Day in Buffalo and he was given the key to the city Mind you … it’s only February.
Comentarios