5:30 • No Cover
Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tom Heyman started playing and recording in the late 1980s with the Philadelphia based band Go To Blazes. He wrote songs, played guitar, and the band released 5 full-length records and toured the US and Europe extensively before breaking up in 1997. After relocating to San Francisco in 1998, he began working as a sideman, eventually joining local favorites The Court and Spark, as well as Chuck Prophet’s band in addition to work touring and recording with John Doe, Alejandro Escovedo, Sonny Smith, Hiss Golden Messenger, and many other artists. All the while he was discovering his voice as a solo artist and bandleader. His second solo record Deliver Me, was critically acclaimed, receiving 4-star reviews in both Mojo and Uncut magazine, and songs from the record were heard in the TV shows True Blood, Justified and Damages. Heyman recorded his sixth solo record, 24th Street Blues, in Portland, Oregon with Mike Coykendall (M. Ward) producing and Rusty Miller (Kelley Stoltz, Jason Lytle) and himself covering the musical bases. The intention was to create a sound that combined the loose, late night, low down groove of JJ Cale with the bittersweet melancholia of late period Nick Lowe and the melodic storytelling of Heyman’s hero Gordon Lightfoot. The record was written mostly at night, after long bar shifts, and is an examination of the loneliness and alienation of a city in flux, and the true cost of love. In addition to the vinyl, compact disc and digital formats the release also includes a 60-page illustrated songbook, with artwork by his wife, the oil painter Deirdre White, who teaches fine art at CCSF and UC Davis. 24th Street Blues will be released