Tom Paxton

Tom Paxton ( born October 31, 1937 in Chicago, Illinois; actually Thomas Richard Paxton ) is an American folk singer, singer-songwriter and children's book author.

Life

Born the youngest child of Burton and Esther Paxton, he moved in 1948 at the age of 10 years with his parents in Bristow, Oklahoma, where he grew up, and which he regarded as his home. After completion of Bristow High School, he began studying at the University of Oklahoma with a major in drama, but turned more and more to the folk music. During his military service in the United States Army ( Army Reserves ), he was stationed in New York City, where he remained after his dismissal and early 1960s, was at home in the folk music scene of Greenwich Village. He had his first gigs in coffee The Gaslight, which in 1962 produced his first record. In 1963 he married his girlfriend Midge, with whom he has daughters Jennifer and Kate, and three grandsons. In 1964 he was taken from the company Elektra Records, which released his most famous early songs, 1965, he toured for the first time by the UK, where he has since been a year at least once on tour. Except in the U.S. and the UK Tom Paxton has occurred on numerous tours in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries.

Work

Tom Paxton is the author of several hundred folk songs, of which The Last Thing On My Mind, Ramblin 'Boy, Bottle Of Wine, Whose Garden Was This? , What Did You Learn in School Today? Peace Will Come and have become best known, as well as numerous songs for children such as Goin ' To The Zoo or The Marvelous Toy. In addition, he has emerged as a children's book author with 16 titles to date, such as The Story of Santa Claus and Goin ' To The Zoo. He was twice nominated for a Grammy 2002 for his children's CD Your Shoes, My Shoes and 2003 in the category of Best Contemporary Folk Album for his CD Looking For The Moon. He has published about 40 albums of his own songs by Tom Paxton but were also taken up by hundreds of other artists. So, for example, transferred the songwriter Hannes Wader Paxton's song Last thing on my mind in 2008 into German and sings it regularly since then on his tours ( nothing more, so far unpublished).

Tom Paxton is in the tradition of politically left-wing, socially critical folk movement, as represented for example by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. In addition to romantic love songs make songs with political meaning the bulk of his work out of the movement against the Vietnam War in the 1960s through to the fight against the Bush administration and the religious right at the beginning of the 21st century. This includes the so-called "short shelf life songs" ( " songs with a short shelf-life ' ), mostly short satirical songs about current political events, which he sings in the initial part of his concerts, but not published as a recording because of their short-lived time obligations.

Paxton is an important figure in the American folk scene. He has helped many young musicians in its early stages and is appreciated by many fellow musicians for his selflessness and generosity.

Albums ( selection)

  • I'm the Man That Built the Bridges ( 1962) ( Gaslight )
  • Ramblin 'Boy ( 1964) ( Elektra )
  • Is not That News ( 1965) ( Elektra )
  • Outward Bound ( 1966) ( Elektra )
  • Morning Again ( 1967) ( Elektra )
  • The Compleat Tom Paxton ( 1970) ( Elektra ) live double album
  • How Come The Sun ( 1971) ( Reprise)
  • Peace Will Come ( 1972) ( Reprise)
  • Heroes ( 1978) ( Vanguard )
  • Best of Friends (1984, CD: Appleseed Records, 2004), with Bob Gibson and Anne Hills
  • One Million Lawyers And Other Disasters (1985) ( Flying Fish Records)
  • Loving You ( 1986) ( Flying Fish Records)
  • Politics Live (1988) ( Flying Fish Records)
  • It Is not Easy (1991) ( Flying Fish Records)
  • Even A Grey Day (1992) ( Flying Fish Records)
  • Wearing The Time ( 1994) ( Sugar Hill )
  • Under American Skies ( 2001) ( Appleseed )
  • Looking For The Moon (2002) ( Appleseed )

CDs for children:

  • Goin ' To The Zoo ( 1997)
  • I've Got a Yo- Yo (1997)
  • A Child's Christmas (1997)
  • Fun Food Songs ( 1999)
  • Your Shoes, My Shoes (2001)

Books for Children

  • Aesop 's Fables (1988 )
  • Jennifer 's Rabbit (1988 )
  • The Story of Santa Claus (1995 )
  • Goin ' To The Zoo ( 1996)
  • The Jungle Baseball Game ( 1999)
Grammy Award Presidency of George W. Bush Christian fundamentalism Bob Gibson (musician) Integrated Authority File
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