Tommy Ashby - "Solace"

With his father’s guitars strewn about the house, Tommy’s childhood was always going to be musical. Travelling the country playing guitar in his father’s traditional blues band and raised on the Scottish pub singaround culture his initial musical experiences were immersive and natural. His teens were spent pouring over his parents record collections of American songwriters such as Neil Young, Simon and Garfunkel, and Jeff Buckley. The eclectic mix of american roots, blues and country music combined with his Scottish folk roots and the agrestic simplicity of his hometown life all seeped into his music.

Tommy spent his early twenties in academia, studying and modeling the human perception of sound. The world of lab coats, vast loudspeaker-arrays, and pitch-black sensorially-deprived listening rooms is far removed from the raw and natural world he now inhabits with his music. His songs contrast introspective lyrics with expansive harmonic landscapes, creating an atmosphere that transports you straight to his small hometown nestled in the hills of the Scottish Borders.

His recent single ‘Guilty’ is a collaboration with Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer Sam Okell and explores a darker side of his sound.

Recent solo shows for Communion, LGM, Never Fade and support slots for Nina Nesbitt and Tom Speight, have seen Tommy’s audience naturally grow. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, he still tours as a musician. 2018’s tour is with Jamie Lawson, supporting Ed Sheeran.

So today, because every human needs it, I choose Tommy Ashby’s “Solace” as my, look to your heart, like a lamp unto my feet, this little light, song for an, island no more, hold fast like the oak, bend like the willow, Wednesday.