TOM HAMBRIDGE WINS BLUES BLAST MUSIC AWARD AS SONG OF THE YEAR FOR “LIVING PROOF”

TOM HAMBRIDGE WINS BLUES BLAST MUSIC AWARD AS SONG OF THE YEAR FOR

“LIVING PROOF”

DURING HIS PERFORMANCE AT THE AWARDS SHOW, TOM WAS JOINED ONSTAGE BY

BUDDY GUY

CHICAGO, IL – Musician and producer Tom Hambridge, whose latest CD, Boom!, continues to generate rave reviews and significant radio airplay, won the 2011 Blues Blast Music Award for “Song of the Year” in ceremonies Thursday night (October 27) at Buddy Guy’s Legends club in Chicago. Appropriately, Hambridge won the award for the title track he wrote on Buddy Guy’s hit album, Living Proof, which Tom also produced. Living Proof also won for “Contemporary Blues CD” and Buddy Guy won additional honors as “Male Blues Artist.” The entire show was broadcast live on radio station WGLT-FM and available on the internet.

Tom Hambridge, currently on tour as special guest with ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd, played his own show earlier that night in Rockford, Illinois, before driving to Chicago, where he promptly performed a short set at the awards show. Tom sang and played drums, accompanied by Buddy Guy band keyboardist Marty Sammon, as well as bassist Melvin Smith and guitarist Peter Galanis, treating the crowd to his songs, “Get Off,” from his Bang ‘n’ Roll album, and “Upside of Lonely” off his new CD. The crowd went wild when Tom then brought the legend himself, Buddy Guy, up onstage to sing “Let the Door Knob Hit Ya’” (which Tom co-wrote with Buddy) off his Living Proof album.

Since it’s release in late August, Boom! has generated tremendous critical acclaim for Tom Hambridge. Here’s a sampling:

“Boom! is a fun and well-crafted studio album that highlights the work of a solid group of musicians, the talent of a gifted singer/songwriter and a collection of memorable songs that may help Hambridge finally find the kind of commercial success as a solo artist that he has so often received as a producer and composer in the past.”

- J. Blake, American Blues News

“Roots rock is the new country and ex-Bostonian Tom Hambridge is the style's current MVP. That's a role he played for years in Beanburg, leading the redoubtable bar band T.H. & the Wreckage and playing drums for legends like Chuck Berry and Roy Buchanan. But after producing Susan Tedeschi's Grammy-nominated Just Won't Burn, he skedaddled to Nashville and raised the ante by climbing up the Americana charts with his solo discs, winning Grammies with Buddy Guy and co-writing massive hits for Keith Anderson, Gretchen Wilson, and other mainstream sharpies. On Boom!, Hambridge pokes every corner of his roots, rock, and blues bag, nailing down grinders like the six-string slider ‘Never Gonna Change’ and the clever heartbreaker ‘Upside of Lonely’ with the help of ringers from Delbert McClinton's versatile band. He also reclaims the stinger ‘I Got Your Country Right Here,’ which was a hit for Wilson. His voice has grown some growl and sprung a drawl, but both suit him well as he delivers these roadhouse anthems with double-shots of conviction.” - Ted Drozdowski, Boston Phoenix

“It just might be true that the best rock ‘n’ roll music today is coming out of Nashville, Tennessee, the home of country music. Tom Hambridge’s new CD, Boom!, makes a convincing argument for the truth to that statement. Boom! showcases Tom in all his disguises; first call studio drummer, outstanding vocalist, Grammy® Award-Winning Producer, ASCAP Award winning singer/songwriter, and Blues Music Award winner on multiple occasions. This is roots rock at its best, with its feet firmly spread all over the musical map of influence; blues, 60’s rock n roll, country, southern rock, and folk.” – Robert Carraher, The Dirty Lowdown

Boom! - Tom Hambridge - New release review

I've just got this new release by Tom Hambridge. Tom is the Grammy Award winning producer of Buddy Guy's "Living Proof" cd. This release includes a blend of music from a lot of different areas. It is strongly influenced by texas blues, although I hear pop influences like Tom Petty, Little Feat and Jerry Lee Lewis as well as some pure country . This is a plenty interesting recording and well worth the listen. Available August 30th 2011



Enjoy.

Boom - Tom Hambridge release coming August 30

GRAMMY™, ASCAP, AND BLUES MUSIC AWARD-WINNER TOM HAMBRIDGE SET TO GO BOOM! ON NEW SOLO CD, FOR AUGUST 30 RELEASE BY SUPERSTAR RECORDS

HAMBRIDGE TO ALSO APPEAR AS SPECIAL GUEST ON UPCOMING TOUR DATES WITH LYNYRD SKYNYRD AND

GEORGE THOROGOOD

NASHVILLE, TN – Grammy™, ASCAP and multiple Blues Music Award-winning Tom Hambridge’s latest CD, Boom!, has been announced for August 30th release by Superstar Records. Hambridge wrote or co-wrote all of the album’s 11 tracks, collaborating with such acclaimed American songwriters including Gary Nicholson, Delbert McClinton, Jeffrey Steele and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Johnny Van Zant.

Superstar Records will celebrate the new album’s release with a series of promotional events, beginning with a very special CD release show in his native Buffalo, New York, on July 27 at the Sportsmen’s Tavern. Additional CD release shows will follow in Boston on August 27, where Hambridge attended the Berklee School of Music and was the recipient of five Boston Music Awards. The last event will be held in Nashville in September. It’s planned to feature many of the top artists and songwriters that Tom has successfully partnered with over the years to write and produce Grammy™ nominated and hit songs and albums.

In addition to his CD release showcases, Hambridge is set to open a number of tour dates in July and August with good friends Lynyrd Skynyrd and, in September/October, with George Thorogood. Hambridge produced the new Thorogood CD, 2120 South Michigan Avenue, a tribute to the iconic Chess Records catalog, released in July from Capitol/EMI Records.

“I’m really looking forward to getting out on tour with Skynyrd and Thorogood and performing for the fans,” Hambridge says about the upcoming dates. “I love playing songs to a live audience and feeling that immediate connection through the music.”

Boom! perfectly showcases not only Tom Hambridge’s skills as a singer and drummer, but also his multiple award-winning talents as a songwriter and producer. He’s backed by an all-star cast of musicians including Delbert McClinton band members Rob McNelley on guitar and Kevin McKendree on keyboards. Other players include long-time Hambridge band member Tommy McDonald on bass, as well as Nashville stalwarts Mark Jordan on piano, Kenny Greenburg on guitar and Michael Rhodes on bass.

Utilizing all of his blues, rock and country influences, songs on Boom! range from the rockin’ opener, “I Keep Things” and closer “I Had a Real Good Time;” to the bluesy “Upside of Lonely,” “Two Thumbs Up,” “Nine Pound Hammer” and “The Pistol;” to the Southern rock/country of “I Got Your Country Right Here”(recorded by Gretchen Wilson - debuted at #6 on Billboard Top Country Album charts) and “Things I Miss the Most,” a Top 100 Billboard Country hit recorded by Donnie and Johnny Van Zant.

Hambridge is on a major roll as a producer and songwriter. He produced blues legend Buddy Guy’s latest CD, Living Proof, which won the 2010 Grammy as Best Contemporary Blues Album, and also recently won Blues Music Awards as Album of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year and Song of the Year for the title track. Tom also produced Guy’s last Grammy™ nominated album, Skin Deep, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard blues chart and #68 on the Billboard 200 chart. Living Proof surpassed that by debuting at #1 on the blues chart, while also hitting #10 on the Top Rock Albums and #46 on the Top 200, making it Buddy Guy’s highest charting record of all time. “Tom is such a creative writer and musician,” said Guy. “Someone like that comes along only once in a lifetime. I call him the white Willie Dixon!”

Tom’s production credits also include work with B.B. King, Johnny Winter, Susan Tedeschi and Jonny Lang. Regarding his work as a producer, Hambridge says: “I don’t want to make a lot of records … I just want to make a few great records that stand the test of time.”

Record companies, managers and artists come to Hambridge for his production skills which include writing songs, playing, singing, arranging as well as producing the record. Hambridge explains his production style: “Writing and producing music is like building a house to me. I don’t want to come in after it’s built and decorate it or paint it. My job as a songwriter and producer is to find the lot, break ground, pour the foundation, frame it, put the walls up, put in the plumbing and heating … and then can I finally decorate it and paint it. I want that house to be strong and stand the test of time for years to come.”