Tom J.J. - Simple Truths (2019)

Tom JJ is an exciting, up and coming Blues artist from South London. Over the last six years, since he could legally get into the venues, Tom has been making a name for himself on the vibrant London Blues scene with his original songs and a mix of traditional Chicago style and foot stomping Texas Blues.

Tom has been singing professionally since the age of eight. Trained on the trumpet, he started to teach himself blues harp and guitar at fourteen. He found an outlet for his blues passion a year later in a local piano bar and played for coca cola. He cajoled a few of his school friends into a band, organising them to busk every weekend. He says it taught him to manage the strange whims of musicians, understand audiences and set lists and to keep a pair of fingerless gloves on standby in the winter.

When he left school, he started a university course in London but found his heart wasn’t in academia and his music degree was getting in the way of his playing. He left after a year and with the help of a few generous well-known musicians he embedded himself quickly on the London scene. He was soon taking over the running of a couple of well-respected weekly Blues jams and creating new ones.

He has recently been working with the Giles Robson band touring Holland, Belgium and the Czech Republic. He has played with James Harman, Billy Branch, Magic Dick, Ian Siegal and Katie Bradley. Last year on a solo trip to Austen, Texas, he played with Paul Oscher, the harmonica player in the Muddy Waters band.