Tom Kimmel is one of a kind among many. There are quite a few singer songwriters, and Tom has being doing it for a long time. But, he’s one of the best, with a quality that shines through. So, it’s been a long run for Tom, with a high water mark indicating output, not only his own recordings but for a plateful of singers the likes of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Linda Ronstadt, The Spinners, and Levon Helm. He’s one we might miss here in Hampton Roads, Virginia, except for the singular efforts of Tidewater Friends of Acoustic Music, nearing their 50th anniversary. Tom played in Norfolk at WHRO/WHRV public broadcasting station in January to a smallish but passionate audience, standing at the end. Rich Follett, a veteran performer and teacher with an encircling velveteen voice, opened for Tom.
Kimmel tells a good story as well, and is a poet who shared some of his poetry during his performance. Tom, the singer/player, gracefully flows from his best-known songs, such as “Heroes,” made familiar by Cash and Jennings and “If I fell from Grace with You,” recorded by Linda Ronstadt, to those more uniquely known by his fans. Kimmel is one of those treasures many are unaware of, despite his lifetime in the trenches and this history of hits. He sang several of the hits hat night, melodies most of us in the crowd were familiar with.
He’s a man who has also run the gamut as a player. He was a rocker with “Heroes,” long hair and sleeveless top, Darryl Hannah’s young sister Page singing and dancing with his rock and roll band. “Heroes” got country treatment with Cash and Jennings. “The Blue Train” got sensitive country and folk treatment by the trio of Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, and Dolly Parton on their Trio II album.
At this point of his 40-year career, Tom is more in the folk mode with sensitive guitar, creative arrangements, and vocals layered through with lyrics having the potential to stand the test of time.
Kimmel sings in the beautiful “If I Fell from Grace with You,”
If you never called my name/How could I answer true?/If you turned and walked away
And I fell from grace with you?/Would my life roll on/As if gray were blue?
As if right were wrong/And December, June?/If I never touched your face/Would morning find the light?/Would the rivers lose their way/A careless moon forget to rise?
And in “Small Song,”
I met her at a party, it was Christmas Eve/She was just eighteen, I was home on leave
And we danced ‘til midnight, but it must have been a dream
Cause I woke up in the jungle with a rifle on my knee
This is a small song, but it’s the way I feel/It’s just a small wound but it does not heal
There’s a place by the river where they wash away sin/And sing a small song ‘bout a love I might have been
And from “Memories:”
We rest here while we can/But we hear the ocean calling in our dreams
And we know by the morning/The wind will fill our sails to test the seams
A calm is on the water/And part of us would linger by the shore
For ships are safe in harbor/But that’s not what ships are for
So we head for open water/Set a course for distant land
Out here there are no borders/And the truth is in the chance
Even with these evocative songs, he had barely touched his musical legacy. He is a man who started in his teens and hasn’t stopped, now in his 60s. The songs have been featured in movies and TV as well. Notably, these include a song by the Spinners in “Twins,” (Schwarzenegger), by Richie Havens in “Navy Seals,” and by Joe Cocker in “Miami Vice.” A tune of his ran for four years as a theme song on “Captain Kangaroo,” after the show’s music director discovered him one night in a Nashville bar.
Other tunes he wrote and recorded during artist fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, an experience I realized after meeting him that we shared.
Tom’s base is now in Mississippi, where he recently moved, after much of his life in Nashville, after marrying his new wife, an artist and a minister. His first wife sang and co-wrote with him during and after their marriage and settling in Nashville.
“I never thought I’d move back to the deep south,” he said of his current situation, “but it’s been good. I was married in Galway (Ireland), and I couldn’t be happier.” Ireland is an important part of his life. He’s done numerous tours there, and he conducts a workshop there annually.
An active outdoorsman/musician in many ways, he conducts an annual music and rafting trip on the wild Salmon River in Idaho, something done previously by Darryl Scott.
The sea enters into “Ships,” which he also performed at Norfolk:
We rest here while we can/But we hear the ocean calling in our dreams
And we know by the morning/The wind will fill our sails to test the seams
A calm is on the water/And part of us would linger by the shore
For ships are safe in harbor/But that’s not what ships are for
So we head for open water/Set a course for distant land
Out here there are no borders/And the truth is in the chance
Tom Kimmel expresses a pleasure in life that is obvious in his performance and in meeting him. The songs clearly bolster and support his longevity and contributions. Tom took off for the next stop on his long-stretching yellow brick road, bundling a lifetime of repertoire into his rig, sharing his personal radiance and musical gifts once again.
