Tom Baxter

Tom Baxter first surfaced in 2004 among London’s leading underground singer-songwriters when his debut album Feather & Stone appeared, a carefully assembled blend of modern pop. Suffolk gave him his start as the son of two widely traveled folk musicians whose constant presence immersed him in songwriting from childhood. Through direct training from his parents and the circle of musicians around them, he absorbed the fundamentals of composition. In his teenage years his family acquired a former hotel and launched Charlie’s Bar on its lower level, where Baxter and his brother mastered stagecraft by forming and leading a resident group. At nineteen he relocated to London to attend music school, supporting himself by playing covers in local venues while steadily shaping his own material. Persistent appearances there cultivated a devoted audience that supplied the momentum for Feather & Stone’s eventual release. Continued regional dates and an expanding body of work sustained that interest. The 2007 single “Better” built anticipation for the follow-up Skybound, which arrived in January 2008. Actor and producer David Schwimmer received an early copy and placed several of Baxter’s songs in the film Run, Fat Boy, Run. That same year Boyzone recorded “Better,” sending it into the U.K. Top 40. Once the album was out, Baxter stepped back to attend to personal matters, travel, and the end of his marriage. Nearly ten years later he reentered the studio and, drawing on those accumulated experiences, completed the spare and intimate The Other Side of Blue, issued in 2018.