Singer, songwriter, entertainer, poet and teacher, Tom Kimmel is all of these things and more than their sum.
Since 1980 dozens of Tom's compositions have been recorded by a host of major artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, Shawn Colvin and Randy Travis. They've been featured in films from Twins to Serendipity and Runaway Bride, and in television shows from Captain Kangaroo and Touched By An Angel to Dawson's Creek.
An award winning artist in his own right, he has released seven solo albums, published a book of poems and led songwriting workshops and classes around the country and in Europe.
Once an eclectic rock and roller, Tom found his voice as a singer-songwriter while touring with Nanci Griffith in the early 90's. A New Folk winner at the Kerrville Folk Festival in '93, he began performing solo, stressing a lean, acoustic-centered approach to his music and bringing a poignant and humorous spirit to his poetry and storytelling.
After releasing two critically praised major label albums (in '87 and '90), Tom released Bones in 1994, his first independent album. It was followed by Short Stories in 1999, which featured guest performances by Emmylou Harris, the Fairfield Four, Jerry Douglas and other Nashville luminaries. Shallow Water (2002), is a collection of spirit-infused songs and hymns, and Light of Day (2004) is comprised of spare voice-and-guitar tracks recorded in Tom's home studio. A volume of poetry, The Sweetest & the Meanest, was published in 2006, and Never Saw Blue, an anthology of TK songs featured in film and TV, arrived in the fall of 2008.
While he loves touring as a one man show, Tom also enjoys expanding his musical horizons by writing and performing with three unique trios: the Sherpas (with Tom Prasada-Rao and Michael Lille), the Waymores (with Don Henry and Sally Barris), and the New Agrarians (with Kate Campbell and Pierce).
A self described "closet poet" until the publication of The Sweetest and the Meanest, Tom has been a featured writer at book festivals and writing retreats, and his poems have been published in a number of poetry and literary journals.
In demand as a songwriting teacher and lecturer, Tom offers one-on-one and workshop instruction tying the creative spirit to the nuts and bolts of composition. In 2008 he was honored to serve as Artist in Residence for a unique collaborative program between Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music, Divinity School and Center for Learning.
