Tom Pacheco in the Press:
Folk at the Gohsen Inn
About the Artists
Tom was born November 4, 1946 in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Tom's father, Tony Pacheco, was a jazz guitarist who played with Django Reinhardt as well as solo in the clubs of Europe before returning to the U.S. to raise a family and open a music store, where he also taught guitar. Tom began playing guitar at age 10, studying both Flamenco and classical styles.
At age 19, Tom released his first solo album: Turn Away From The Storm, a collection of all-original folk songs. He left Massachusetts to study at Hofstra University in New York City, where he formed the band The Ragamuffins, which supported Jimi Hendrix on a number of occasions and also released two singles on Seville and London Records.
In 1969, Euphoria, a band consisting of Tom and three other folk singers, released the album Euphoria on Heritage Records. In 1971 Tom and former Euphoria member Sharon Alexander released the album Pacheco and Alexander on CBS Records. This album was produced by John Hall and featured backing from the Full Tilt Boogie Band. In 1974 Jefferson Starship recorded Tom's song "All Fly Away" on their Dragonfly album. Richie Havens recorded the song "Indian Prayer", co-written by Tom and Roland Vargas Mousaa, for Richie's Mixed Bag II album. In 1976 RCA Records released two Tom Pacheco albums: Swallowed Up in the Great American Heartland and The Outsider, both produced by George "Shadow" Morton. A re-release of Swallowed Up in the Great American Heartland is currently available in Japan from BMG Music (www.bmgjapan.com).
Tom moved to Woodstock, New York, in 1978 where he continued to write songs and also earned extra money by selling original paintings. He formed the band The Hellhounds, which performed in clubs throughout the area. In 1981 Tom moved to Austin, Texas, where he formed a new band, also called The Hellhounds, which was enthusiastically received by local audiences. In 1983 Tom returned to Woodstock and reunited The Hellhounds there. They recorded an album in 1985, 85 Tides, which was never released.
Tom moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1986 where he recorded more than 100 song demos. He continued to write prolifically, averaging more than 50 new songs per year.
At the invitation of a friend, Tom left Nashville in 1987 for what was originally intended to be a six-week tour in Ireland but ended up stretching out to a ten-year stay. Settling in Dublin, Tom used Ireland as a base while touring all over Europe. Dublin-based Ringsend Road Music Group (Round Tower Records) released Tom's first European album, Eagle in the Rain, in 1987 produced by Irish folk legend Arty McGlynn. In 1991 Round Tower Records released Tom's album Sunflowers and Scarecrows, produced by Kenny Denton at Sonet Studio in London. The album also features accordion tracks by Cajun star Flaco Jimenez recorded in Austin, Texas. Tom recorded his third Round Tower Records album, Tales from the Red Lake, in 1992 in Nashville with co-producer Paul Speer. In addition to numerous top Nashville studio musicians, this album featured harmony vocals, harmonica, and Norwegian mouth harp tracks by Norwegian country star Steinar Albrigtsen. Steinar's 1992 album, Bound to Wander, featured four songs by Tom. In 1993 Tom and Steinar Albrigtsen recorded their first duet album, Big Storm Comin', in Oslo, Norway, with producer Sverre Erik Henriksen for Round Tower Records and Norsk Plateproduksjon.
In 1994 Tom signed a recording contract with Sonet, the Scandinavian branch of PolyGram Records, which released his album Luck of Angels. All the songs on this album were co-produced by Tom and Jay Vern in Nashville except for "Robert and Ramona", which Tom recorded in Oslo with producer Svein Gunderson. Steinar Albrigtsen contributed background vocals and acoustic guitar. In 1995 Steinar Albrigtsen and Sverre E. Henriksen produced Tom's Bluefields album, released on Norway's Fjording label. In 1997, Tom's album Woodstock Winter was released in the U.S. by Mercury and in Norway by PolyGram. This album, recorded at Levon Helm's studio in Woodstock, featured performances by members of The Band, including Levon Helm and Rick Danko. It was produced by guitarist Jim Weider. After ten years in Ireland, Tom returned to the U.S. to settle again in Woodstock.
UK-based Road Goes On Forever Records released Tom's album Bare Bones and Barbed Wire, a collection of 34 songs recorded "unplugged" in a Dublin studio between 11:00 p.m. and dawn one night in August 1997 by Tom and producer Pete Holidai (of the legendary Irish Œ70s punk group Radiators from Space). In 1999 Road Goes On Forever Records released Tom's album The Lost American Songwriter (Bare Bones II), which Tom recorded in Woodstock with producer Jim Weider, lead guitarist for The Band. This album included the song "If I Should Fail", co-written with Rick Danko. In 2000 Norwegian label Norske Gram released the album Nobodies, the latest collaboration between Tom and Steinar Albrigtsen.. It was co-produced by Tom, Steinar, and engineer Scott Petito in Levon Helm's Woodstock studio.
Rick Danko's posthumously released album Times Like These featured two songs by Tom, "People of Conscience" and "You Can Go Home".
Tom recorded the album There Was a Time for Appleseed Recordings in 2002. Produced by Scott Petito in Catskill, NY, the album includes a brand-new version of "The Indian Prayer" and banjo tracks by Pete Seeger.