Press
‘People were mesmerised – you have a sound of your own. We would love to have you back again sometime’– (Patricia Stewart, St. Ives Festival.)
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Tom Doughty int
erveiw in Acoustic magazine, October 2011.> Download article pdf
We the audience were simply buzzing, after all that, and we went home totally satisfied having heard top class Blues from a first rate practitioner. He is a must see performer.
Lewis A Harris Folk Northwest
Opening with his own composition, ‘The Bell’, Tom treated a hushed, attentive and hugely knowledgeable crowd to a performance master class, the fluency of his playing making even the most intricate picking and slide work seem simple. Yet for all that the applause was in part a response to Tom’s considerable skills, most of it was for his artistry – that elusive mix of sound, expression and feeling that only a few seem to be able to conjure up.
Jim Gillan RocknReel
Apart from the obvious instrumental and vocal skills, what also comes across to each and every member of the audience is what a great attitude Doughty has – he connects with the audience in a positive way. He is an enormous talent who provides a fantastic evening’s entertainment.
Michael Prince – Blues in Britain
He played material from the likes of Charlie Patton and Walter Davis alongside his own quite engaging compositions with, in particular, some very evocative instrumentals played in unusual and personalised tunings. This guy has a growing reputation and this very entertaining and thoughtful set can only enhance his growing reputation even further.
Bob Tilling
Wirral International Guitar Festival and Crawley festival – November 2006/07
Tom Doughty at Birkenhead Town Hall – 25th November 2006
As a really big fan of slide guitar, I’m really pleased to discover someone new to me, especially when it’s someone with a very distinctive sound. Tom Doughty’s set at Birkenhead Town Hall on 25/11/06 had Kieran (my boyfriend) and I grinning like a couple of demented kids. From the opening number (which I found out later was one of his own) Tom played some wonderfully uplifting music, including a version of Eleanore Rigby which put even the original to shame. It was brilliant to see him and Woody Mann trade improvisations and a real bonus to meet him afterwards. We have since got both his CDs and are doing our best to wear them out! PLEASE book him next year and get him to do some workshops.
Ros and Keiran
Tom Doughty & Adam Palma at Birkenhead Town Hall – 13th November 2007
A tuesday night at the town hall and its acoustic, acoustic all the way. The evening opened with Adam Palma taking to the high stage area and producing a beautiful controlled and easy flowing performance. Effortlessly he went through a set which demonstrated his particular style of guitar playing – almost vamping – highlighted by a great version of the Average White Band’s classic Pick Up The Pieces and also a moving tribute to the late Joe Zawinful. Tom Doughty then came to the lower stage area for a wonderful set comprising excellent musicianship – what was noticeable was his connectivity and rapport with the audience – much appreciated on a freezing cold November night. Great instrumentals, pleasing choice of material – both wide and varied – and which included some masterful lap guitar playing. Tom Doughty and Adam Palma, two different artists with differing styles proved a good night for the audience which enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere.
Review by Maddie
Tom Doughty & Adam Palma at Birkenhead Town Hall – 13th November 2007
The small, intimate gathering at Birkenhead Town Hall were treated to a display of acoustic guitar virtuosity as part of the 19th International Guitar Festival of Great Britain, from two players with styles far apart – yet able to round off the show as a duo – but more of that later! Opening the night was Polish session guitarist Adam Palma, who has been based in Manchester for ten years and has worked with the likes of Chris de Burgh and Hamish Stuart. A quite lovely half-hour set saw him take us from Chris Rea to Frank Sinatra, with other numbers by Weather Report and Stevie Wonder – all delivered by his most rhythmic picking style. He opened up with an instrumental version of Chris Rea’s “Driving Home For Christmas”, as he said “a most optimistic song”, before a lovely, jazzy “Pick Up The Pieces” – with, I kid ye not, a snatch of “Back In Black”! He is obviously a big jazz fan and a brace of Frank Sinatra-associated tunes back to back were highlights of the set – “Love And Marriage” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” – both played expertly by this talented new name to me. Stevie Wonder’s tribute to Duke Ellington, “Sir Duke” rounded off his set. Northwich-based Tom Doughty has established himself in the last few years as one of these shores finest lap-slide players – he is certainly one of the most original, with his style blues-based, but with Celtic, jazz and folk influences. His one-hour set was engaging in the fact that he had no set-list and veered from all genres as the mood took him, also chatting with the small gathering. His superb playing has lots of improvisation and at times even he admitted that “there is a tune in here somewhere!”. Starting with the title cut of his “Running Free” album, he followed with a couple of masterful covers – Bob Dylan’s “Girl From The North Country” and Randy Newman’s superb “Louisiana 1927”, telling of the devastating floods of that year; before dipping into the jazz standard “Every Time We Say Goodbye”, and perhaps one of only a few straight blues all night, “Catfish Blues”. Not being a guitar buff, I am unable to deliver vast detail of his lovely guitars – his website if your best bet for that – but suffice to say they were all nice on the eye and off course, sounded even better in a master’s hands. His slide style, as mentioned, is heavily improvised – probably somewhere along the lines of American master Kelly Joe Phelps, meeting British player Johnny Dickinson – quite unstructured, and with a real lovely tone and feel, as evidence on a version of “Eleanor Rigby” that took the song places it has never been before. Adam Palma returned for the last segment of the evening and the two players contrasting styles treated us to Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” – ok Tom, we forgive you for not remembering all the words; a blues tune in “Come Back Baby”, and film music in the shape of “Mo’ Better Blues” – the intricate picking of Palma meshing with Tom Doughty’s glistening slide lines – great stuff to round off a most enjoyable evening.
Review by Graham Rhodes
Tom Doughty & Adam Palma
I saw Tom Doughty at last year’s festival when he supported Woody Mann, so the chance to see him do a Solo gig this year was too much to miss. Support was provided by a bloke i’d never heard of before, Adam Palma, who turned out to be a really good fingerstyle player, very understated (he didn’t say much) but versatile. More of this later. After a short break Doughty came on and within 30 seconds he had the attention of the audience. He clearly enjoys his music and this shone through, as did his fantastic slide playing. Everything from Cole Porter to the Mississippi Delta and lots of his own self penned material in between. Tom did a solid hour and a quarter which just flew by. His was able to relate to his songs and his audience asnd unlike so many professional players of today, he came across as modest and humble but full of life and enthusiasm for his music. One song in particular about a really emotional girl had the room silenced and hanging on every note. After a second break, Tom was joined on the stage by Adam and together they both shone with a mixture of standards, popular tunes and blues. Both musicians seemed to be spontaneous and bounced off each other. I can’t remember many of the songs but things that did stand out for me was their rendition of Black Orpheus and something from a film score, along with a heavily individual version of Stevie Wonder’s superstition. Tom Doughty really is a great slide player. Probably the most versatile i’ve seen and he should be heard by a wider audience. My one big gripe of the evening was that the room wasn’t warm enough but that was probably to do with the small turnout as well as the lack of heating. Only 15 or 20 people were present and Tom Doughty appeared to know most of those. Why weren’t there more people attracted by the festival itself?
Review by John Gregson
Oranges, Ashford, Kent – August 2006
‘Tom slips effortlessly from songs by the likes of Charlie Patton and Walter Davies to Cole Porter and the Beatles (a lovely instrumental version of ‘Eleanor Rigby’). He is blessed with a very pleasing voice, which he successfully adapts to whatever he is singing, be it an old blues song or something he wrote himself recently. Once this is combined with his considerable skills in lap slide guitar, you have a winning package.
Encores may be inevitable at most gigs, but there was no doubt that the Oranges audience really ranted more and more. Tom obliged with a rocking blues number followed by another classic ‘Louisiana 1927’ a song about the great flood of that year, still very much relevant today, given the recent events in that part of the world.
Apart from the obvious instrumental and vocal skills, what also comes across to each and every member of the audience is what a great attitude Doughty has – he connects with the audience in a positive way and comes across as an all round nice guy. We were all immensely impressed – and that includes no less than slide legend Roger Hubbard, who was one of our visiting party!
I encourage all readers to buy Tom’s CDs and to get along to a gig if he plays anywhere within striking distance. He is an enormous talent who provides a fantastic evening’s entertainment.
Michael Prince
Bluesnights at Dorchester Arts Centre Saturday – 8th January 2005
‘Using two guitars throughout the evening, the first a National steel which he played flat lap style. He started with a very pleasant number played with a slide by his hero Charlie Patton. What struck me straight away was the quality of his voice, warm and rich but mellow with it, that admirably suited the style that he fits into.
The second set kicked off with a gentle, but beautiful, instrumental by Santo & Johnny called “Sleepwalk”. Then back to the Hawaiian guitar and this time he played “Brownsville Blues” by Furry Lewis, a 1920’s composition. This was brilliant a superb rolling rhythm.
Always full of surprises Tom proceeded to pay an instrumental version of “Eleanor Rigby”. I was so impressed with this, it was gorgeous, very sensitive and to me it was quite awe inspiring. He is going to record it soon. Stunning! And then, to give us an encore he launched into a rip-roaring Charlie Patton number that thumped and swung. A superb way to round off the evening. We the audience were simply buzzing, after all that, and we went home totally satisfied having heard top class Blues from a first rate practitioner. He is a must see performer.’
Lewis A Harris
