About This:
Voted FOLK ALBUM OF THE YEAR by The International Folk Alliance !! Tom's newest album; his first studio recording in 35 years! Produced in Nashville by longtime Cambridge friend and musician Jim Rooney and his subtle crew of country-folk musicians, "What I Know" contains five Rush originals, his arrangement of the traditional “Casey Jones” (with guest vocalist Nanci Griffith) and nine renditions of mostly unfamiliar songs that become instant friends. Tom’s compositions range from toe-tappers (“Hot Tonight,” with guest Bonnie Bramlett on harmony vocals, “Silly Little Diddle,” “One Good Man” and the exuberant title song) to the wearily peaceful “River Song” (with Robin Batteau on violin). There are gorgeously regret-filled songs by Steven Bruton (“Too Many Memories,” with Emmylou Harris on harmony, A.J. Swearingen’s “You’re Not Here with Me,” Jamaican singer Mishka’s “Lonely”), the wonderfully tender “What an Old Lover Knows,” by Melanie Dyer and Kim Beard Day, and a velvety song of seduction – “Fall into the Night” – by Eliza Gilkyson. “East of Eden,” co-written by Jack Tempchin (“Peaceful Easy Feeling”) doubles as a frustrated love song and a commentary on US immigration policies. The best-known song covered is a reflective take on Mentor Williams’ “Drift Away,” a hit for Dobie Gray, Rod Stewart and uncountable others, performed here minus the “horn section, backup singers, smoke machines and pole dancers” Tom has heard in previous arrangements.