Morning Call    March 9, 2009
Band of the Week: Friends of Tom
Total People in Discussion: 0
Categories: Music, Music News
Posted by Jodi Duckett at 12:01:23 AM on March 9, 2009

Bands that play original music rarely want to be pigeonholed into one style. Friends of Tom have gone a step further — they have made up their own word for what they play.  “FoBluCo,” also the name of the group’s first CD, defined as a combination of folk, blues, country and roots. Another description might be just Americana, or roots music. It leanstoward the backwoods, with a laid-back, stringed instrument sound.

Along with originals, the quartet plays songs by artists ranging from Lucinda Williams to BrianSetzer, as well as putting their own spin on classic rock standards. “We take a song and play it using different instrumentation,” says Chris Younger. People will ask them, “What’s that metal thing?” upon seeing Rob Fedorczyk’s Dobro, or “Is that a cello?” when looking at Jim Thompson’s standup bass.

Friends of Tom, which has been together about four years, is composed of three men who are engineers in their day jobs and a lead singer, Chris’ wife Liz, who is a social worker. For many years, Chris played the bar circuit with a cover band, RoundTrip.  The current band was yet unnamed when they did a show with the former lead singer of RoundTrip, Tom Epler. When introduced, they referred to themselves as “friends of Tom.” They decided to keep the name.

Their 12-track CD has all originals, except a bluegrass-like version of “House of the Rising Sun.”  It varies from love songs to humorous laments about the tardiness of spouses and the middle age loss of memory. There are also heartfelt stories about lost friends. “These people struck a chord,” says Liz Younger, “and inspired us to write wonderful lyrics.”   

Music: Americana
Members:
Liz Younger – lead vocals,

Chris Younger – guitar, harmonica, vocals, mandolin, rhythm machine,
Rob Fedorczyk – slide acoustic and electric guitar, Dobro, mandolin,
 Jim Thompson - upright bass

Performing: CD release party, 9 p.m., March 13, Grumpy’s Bar-B-Que Roadhouse, 3000 Mauch Chunk Road, Mechanicsville, 610-769-4600, www.grumpysbbq.net,

 live on-air performance, 1 to 2 p.m.,  March 13, WXLV 90.3 FM.

On the Web: www.friendsoftomband.com

Dave Howell is a freelance writer.