Folk Bands and Artists
Tommy Ashby
Over the long weekend at the end of May, Tommy Ashby played to an audience of 200,000 at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester... on this occasion, as guitarist with Jamie Lawson who is currently opening for Ed Sheeran - part of Sheeran’s mega stadium tour. It seems like a long way from last year’s single, Guilty - recorded in his bedroom set-up. It was featured on Record of The Day, Track of The Day on Clash and reviewed by The Most Radicalist and Born Music.
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, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings and Jeff Buckley. The eclectic mix of American roots, blues and country, combined with his Scottish folk roots, all seeped into his music.
After acquiring a PhD focussed on studying and modelling the human perception of sound, Tommy cut his teeth behind the scenes as a session musician for the likes of Nina Nesbitt and Holly Macve, toured the UK and Europe as support act for Rhodes and Tom Speight as well as playing a number of headline sell-out shows in London this year including events curated by Communion, Never Fade and the Southbank Centre.
His debut EP, produced by Chris Bond (Ben Howard) was self-released in late November 2016 and entered at No.5 in the iTunes singer-songwriter chart. His new EP, Restless Love, was recorded and mixed with Grammy award winner Sam Okell in his home studio near the wild North Cornwall coast.
