TOMMY STEELE
Tommy Steele is just as comfortable playing before 50 people as he is performing in front of 50,000, and he's done quite a bit of both over the last few years. In 2011 the Michigan native opened for Big & Rich at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan and performed at CMA Music Festival in Nashville. He's shared stages with megastars like Leann Rimes, Gretchen Wilson and Dwight Yoakam, and entertained at venues ranging from intimate nightclubs to large festivals.
With a distinctive and immediately identifiable sound, Steele's music is a blend of influences that brings together the edgy musicianship and rocked-out passion of early Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd, with the raw, sparse, lyrical sense of Springsteen.
Tommy's newest single perfectly reflects the complicated dichotomy of his music. Written by hitmakers Travis Meadows and Jack Williams, "My Side of the Street" puts Steele's emotive voice front and center on this story of a love destined to live only in dreams. BELL-JARBOE Films tailored the new video to Tommy's unique style and brought a new interpretation of cultural and social divides to the song. "My Side of the Street" is the first of the "new music" that Tommy has been busy recording in Nashville with respected veteran singer songwriter, producer Dave Gibson (Gibson Miller Band).
Active in several bands before going solo in 2006, Steele was used to playing more than 200 dates a year. The 2009 release of his first CD, THE LONG HAUL, brought him national recognition with two hit singles: the rock guitar-edged, mid-tempo "Forever 17" and the passionate ballad, "What Kind of Man Would I Be." The releases generated features in Country Weekly, Music Row and Magazine of Country Music, and fanned an already-burning fire in his heart.
With years of "gigging" behind him and his performance "chops" firmly in place, Tommy began to hone his songwriting and studio recording skills. He was a talented musician by his teen years and that led to some fun experimentation during his most recent recordings. "The energy and synergy of these sessions was just incredible, and I think it shows in the new music," he observes.
Tommy carries with him the lessons learned in his youth, and they give instant credence to his down-home manner and strong work ethic. With family roots in Detroit's auto factories and Georgia's clay soils, "blue collar" and "country strong" are apt descriptive terms for this handsome entertainer. Like many others, he has suffered through the emotional pain of divorce, the difficulties of an unstable economy and other challenges. "My home state was hit pretty hard," Tommy notes of the recession. "It brought drastic changes to a lot of folks' lives." For Steele, however, there was hope in neighbor helping neighbor, and friend helping friend. "It was uplifting to see whole communities coming together," Steele says with compassion. Tommy worked through the "hard times" with music as his constant companion. "It's my therapy," he confesses. "A lot of the songs I've written lately have helped me put the past to rest."
Since Steele is a man who believes in finishing what he starts, his success is certain. When asked what the future holds in store for Tommy Steele, he simply replies, "I plan to spend most of my time traveling this great nation of ours and sharing the music I love with the people." And then adds with his trademark grin, "What else is there?"
