So I live in the forest…At the base of Mammoth Mountain.
My home is like a tree fort. Every window you look out of you see trees. The full moon shines into my bedroom and the snow glistens in the night. A songwriter’s paradise.
I have not always written songs, though. I am by profession a Retirement Investment Planner. Growing up in the South Bay Area of Southern California I had many jobs before finding my “niche.” One of those was a baker and cake decorator at Jensen’s Old Country Bakery in Blue Jay, California. I still make wedding cakes, birthday cakes, and gingerbread houses at Christmas time for family and friends. It is a great hobby that I love. I also love working in the yard and doing carpentry work. My professional success has permitted me the time to pursue my hobbies… music being my most passionate one. I love playing the guitar, playing my harmonica and singing my songs.
I grew up with the Beatles(Yeah Paul!),Crosby-Stills-Nash and Young, Neil Diamond, The late Great Johnny Cash, James Taylor, Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan, and my all-time favorite the late Great John Denver. When he was killed in a plane crash in 1997, the music world lost one of the greatest songwriters-performers of all time. May God rest his soul. Much of my musical style has been patterned after these folk-rock hero’s of the 60s and 70s.
It had been said that I have an “Earthy Folk” style…A fresh, varied mix of Acoustic Country/Folk Ballads and stories that reflect the beautiful people and places of the Eastern High Sierra Mountains of California.
Fly-fishing, marathon training with the High Sierra Striders (www.highsierrastriders.org), back-packing, mountain bike riding, camping, golfing, hiking with our dogs, surfing (at my favorite spots…”C” St. Ventura, Hermosa Beach, Huntington Beach, and San Onofre) and music festivals in the summer …and cross country skiing, downhill skiing, extreme skiing the Sherwin’s, walks and cross country skiing in the forest at night in a full moon in winter… THAT’S THE MAMMOTH LIFESTYLE.
A few years ago I felt the need to write some songs about my own experiences with friends and family…songs about my favorite places to visit (actually right in my own backyard). The John Muir Wilderness, the Owens River, Fish Creek, Second Crossing, Lake Rosalie, Tioga Pass and Yosemite National Park.
My musical exposure has been concerts in Lone Pine Park, Forest Service Campfires at Mammoth and June Lake Campgrounds, The Whoa Nellie Deli – Tioga Gas Mart, Worship band on Sunday at Grace Community Church, percussionist at various Mammoth High School Drama presentations, Performing at Various Assisted Living Facilities and the Rose Garden Alzheimer’s Home in Redlands, California, singing for the Residents there, lost souls whose feet magically begin to tap when the music begins…and some begin to sing along…and all long for any kind of outside human contact. God bless every one of them.
I am hoping that you love my music…are delighted with the places and people that I have written about…and will listen to someone (me!) who is pursuing his dream of recording songs that come to him…and sharing them from his heart to yours!
Thanks for Listening,
Take care!
Tom :)
High Sierra Striders
