Tom Acousti

TOM ACOUSTI BIOGRAPHIES – TAKE YOUR PICK

One-Sentence (For A.D.D. folks on No-Doze)
Short-Length (For those with something else to do today)
Medium-Length (For the casually curious)
Super Long-Length (For the deranged fan; know everything possible about Tom before stalking!)

All bios written by Jon Rubin

One-Sentence Tom Acousti Bio (For A.D.D. folks on No-Doze)

Tom Acousti delivers autobiographically confessional songs and performances that are, ultimately, about you.

Short-Length Tom Acousti Bio (For those with something else to do today)

After an adolescence filled with rock-band and community/professional theater stage experience, Acousti moved to Los Angeles to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Four years later he returned to New England with recording engineer/producer credentials and a handful of original songs.

Since then, Acousti has lived in New York City and Nashville, released four albums (the next is slated for release before the end of 2008), performed thousands of shows ranging from solo acoustic to full band productions, toured nationwide, performed repeatedly on national television, and moved thousands of hearts by living his autobiography on stage, in song.

The release, "Bloom" (Volume I) has been made available as a free gift to hundreds by way of the ‘Buy One, Give Two Free’ program sharing the music in the name of the late Army Sgt. Kenneth R. Hobson II.

Acousti, now settled in Portland Maine, has built a professional recording studio and production team and has produced a number of albums for other artists in 2005-2008.

Acousti also delivers songwriting workshops of various kinds to children and adults and teaches songwriting and music production as an Artist-in-Residence at Portland Arts and Technology High School and with the Foothills Arts Center (www.foothillsarts.org) and independently.

In 2008 Tom established Sound Harbor Music Publish dedicated to creating, producing, and delivering songs to tomorrow’s market.

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Medium-Length Tom Acousti Bio (For the casually curious)

Tom Acousti grew up in southern New England, where listening to the voices and stories of Neil Young, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, and others taught him the importance of a poet’s message and style.

Tom's first group dynamic was playing in the basement with his older brother’s band, Phoxx, (named after the stuffed fox given to Tom by his uncle) which quickly became the popular underage cover band in the area. Complimenting Tom’s rock band discoveries were lead roles in high school and community musical theater productions like ‘Pippin,’ ‘Godspell’ and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar.’

At age 17, Tom was accepted for studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena and packed for Los Angeles. But within a year, he had made the decision to become a songwriter instead. Nevertheless, more than a decade later, Acousti would go on to create the role of Nick Piazza in the pre-Broadway stage production of "Fame, the Musical," which is still performed today throughout the world. For the remainder of his L.A. years Tom honed his skills by becoming a recording engineer/producer working on high-quality demos and independent releases as well as singing/playing as a sideman for bands playing the L.A. circuit.

Acousti’s return to New England four years later provided the perfect opportunity to begin performing as a soloist. Beginning at Sunday River Ski Resort, Acousti quickly branched out to regional clubs and coffeehouses, followed by becoming one of the nation’s most popular college campus performers.

By 1992, Acousti had released two independent albums; "Process of Elimination" and "Only; Welcome to Reality". That year also marked the birth of Acousti’s four-piece concert band, The Happy Bus, with sounds ranging from pure acoustic to cathartic rock-n-roll. During the band’s first 18 months, ‘the Bus’ performed two east coast tours, and released ‘Express’, a live bootleg style album.

In ’94 Tom Appeared on the popular television program ‘Star Search’ performing all original works. In a winning streak that resulted in 7 performances, Tom broke the record for "number of wins with original music" in the Male Vocalist category and was the first contestant ever to present a song using only an acoustic guitar (no backing tracks - and no hairspray either). (Click for Photo)

Highlights of 1995-96 included new recordings, co-writing, and showcase gigs in NYC as a duo with guitarist, Teel, before moving to Nashville in 1997 to give family life a long break from touring.

Although most of Acousti’s time in Nashville was spent far from the commercial demands of the profit-driven music business, it has yielded opportunities for music in film (Alligator Alley, New York Cop [Mira Sorvino] and a new two volume CD, "Bloom, everything is everything" Bloom’s songs like "Around Me Now", "Man Again" and "Beside You Two" capture Acousti’s deep and mature essence better than ever, while "Forever Right Now", "Beside You Two", and "Diaper Dance" remind us that family continues to be not only a priority for Tom but is still his greatest inspiration. "The musicians who contributed to it were amazing" boasts Tom, who is clearly driven these days. Some of those contributors include Guitarist and long time collaborator, Teel, Matt Walker (Nashville Symphony), Lance Hoppen (Orleans), and Gene Libbea (Nashville Bluegrass Band).

"Bloom" (Volume I) has been made available as a free gift to hundreds by way of the ‘Buy One, GIVE Two Free’ program sharing the music in the name of the late, Army Sgt. Kenneth R. Hobson II. If you do noting else at this website, please check that out.

In 2002 Tom jumped into the business of music, working as a Talent Buyer for one of the largest rock and rap festivals in the U.S., Miami's "Beyond, 2002." Acousti's job was to coordinate a 3 month booking blitz that resulted in over $1,000,000 worth of contracts to book the likes of Outkast, Snoop Dogg, Stone Temple Pilots, Ludacris, The Offspring, Ice-T, and more.

During 2004-2008, Acousti has built a professional recording studio and production team and has produced a number of albums for other artists. Check out Joe Farren's 'Til the Day (2007) and John Paul's Belmont Boulevard (2008)

Tom Acousti cut his teeth co-writing songs with kids for Kid Pan Alley workshops in 2004-5. Since then, he has continued to hone and expand that craft working with all ages in slightly different workshop formats such as working with Foothills Arts Center (www.foothillsarts.org).

Since 2005, Acousti has taught songwriting and music production as an Artist-in-Residence at Portland Arts and Technology High School and with the Foothills Arts Center (www.foothillsarts.org) and independently.

In 2006, Acousti became Music Director at The Maine Beacon, Center For Spiritual Living, a fast growing Science of Mind Community.

In 2008 Tom established Sound Harbor Music Publish dedicated to creating, producing, and delivering songs to tomorrow’s market.

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Super Long-Length Tom Acousti Bio (For the deranged fan; know everything possible before stalking!)

Who is Tom Acousti? An experienced and passionate performing songwriter whose piano and acoustic guitar are willing accomplices to insightful and brutally honest lyrics; someone who still cherishes the poetic connection between song and listener; a devoted man searching for the best for his family, himself, his music and his audience. Meet Tom Acousti...

Growing up in a musical family in southern New England, songs were always in the Acousti blood. Tom’s earliest musical memory is "so young that I can’t put an age on it". Whether borrowing his older brother Mark’s records, harmonizing while their father strummed 50s standards, or learning every tune in the musical ‘Oliver!’, the world of song became a quick and easy outlet of expression for this boy. Tom soon found himself being drawn specifically to the lyrics of these songs and the stories being told within them; it wasn’t just a matter of what was being said, but how it was being said. This attraction towards the importance of a poet’s message and style, even at such a young age, would set the stage for everything else to come.

In the years following the family's relocation to Cape Cod, Massachusetts (Tom just 7 years old), the voices of Neil Young, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Jackson Browne and others helped shape the storyteller Acousti would become. "I found a sense of spirituality in the truthfulness and honesty of these poets that didn’t exist around me anywhere in my normal day-to-day life," Tom explains. As these singers and their stories began to play a larger role in his world, Tom’s average 3rd or 4th grade afternoon was more likely spent pouring over the lyrics on inner sleeves of current vinyl releases rather than on a soccer field or in a school parking lot. While his peers passed their hours air-guitaring to the classic rock solos of "Free Bird", Tom learned every word to every song on Don McLean’s "Tapestry" (therefore having the dubious distinction of being one of the few to own a Don McLean record other than ‘American Pie’).

Like many of us, Acousti caught the stage bug early through school and church choirs. "My church choir experience was the opposite of most because my parents were Militant Agnostics (‘We don’t know, and you don’t either’). We had stopped going to church when I was about 4 or 5 years old but my brother Mark and I were kind of recruited into a different church choir several years later. We were ‘ringers’ just there to sing."

Tom's first group dynamic was playing in the basement with his older brother’s band, after forcing himself into the group as a means to procure more stage time. Although he had been fiddling with the guitar since age 10, his brother already had that covered. "There was no hope to catch up with Mark on the guitar, so we bought an old upright piano for $13 and lowered it into the basement with ropes and pulleys. Half the neighborhood was there. One of the kids nearly lost his hand helping. Mark tuned it and helped me with some basic chord theory. We were learning Eagles, Beatles, CSN, stuff that was still considered pop at the time. There was a 50s resurgence too then, and my big song was the Bobby Day hit, "Rockin’ Robin." Mark sang lead on almost everything else, but this was my few minutes to shine. Three months later, I had $50 cash in my pocket from our first gig, which was a wedding. I was just thirteen, and that marked the beginning of three years of high school/yacht club dances and more weddings…and lots of rehearsing in the basement. The whole house would shake but my parents were saints about it. They were very involved." Soon enough, Phoxx (named after the stuffed fox given to Tom by his uncle and which played mascot to the band’s every gig and rehearsal) became the popular underage cover band in the area, working their way from VFW weddings to the coveted high school prom. (Click for Photo) "At the time I really got into the promotion and business of the band… kind of the self-appointed agent, entrepreneur and businessman. I drove everybody nuts, but I learned some pretty heavy stuff by the time I was 15. Then disco happened and I had a live DJ business too. If the guy who worked for me didn’t show up to load in I was screwed because he was the one with a driver’s license." Little did Tom know at the time he would, through necessity, become all too familiar with this entrepreneurial roll later on.

Complimenting Tom’s rock band discoveries were lead roles in high school and community musical theater productions like ‘Pippin,’ ‘Godspell’ and ‘Jesus Christ Superstar.’ His passion for theater deepened as he spent summers working as a sound-tech at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA (and later, on the Summer Stock circuit). "The playhouse was very mind-expanding for me. The actors were all from New York and L.A. My first experience with New York City was hopping the train from the Westport Playhouse with Timothy Bottoms and trying to keep up with him all day. I’d also get bits of advice from people like Larry Pressman or John Ritter. I had a walk-on part with John in "The Battle of Angels." I was ‘redneck # 2’ and we’d throw him to the floor once a show and scowl at him, then leave. I remember one week when David Birney and Meredith Baxter-Birney were the stars and he was, well, kind of a control freak and not very nice to her. She would have a break each night during the show and sit near my little soundboard stage left, cross her legs, and read. She was so beautiful I thought for sure I’d miss a cue. And she was a very sweet person. I wanted to kick David Byrnie’s ass but I was only 15."

At age 17, Tom was accepted for studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena and packed for Los Angeles. At the Academy, Tom soon found he wasn’t a great actor when stripped of the music ("Unless I was singing at the same time [as acting], I couldn’t sell shit." he proudly admits). "I sang and danced my way through the place which really wasn’t fair to the craft of acting or the tradition of the school. I never officially finished the first year." Nevertheless, more than a decade later he would go on to create the role of Nick Piazza in the pre-Broadway production of the show "Fame, the Musical," which is still performed today throughout the world. "I guess another reason I sucked at acting is that I was always writing songs instead of reading plays and learning lines. I had my first co-writing experience there [The Academy] with Bonita Allen. That changed my life and we’re still very close today. I also met my first wife, Michelle (Micky), there. It was as if God said ‘you are going to be a songwriter. You need to know more about Love and Pain…take this.’"

Just after leaving the Academy, an 18-year-old, Tom had written "Fair Share" as a gift for his mother on Mother’s Day, and sent her a cassette of the song for the holiday. After getting a favorable response (it was his mother, after all), Tom learned she played it for friends back home, who made copies for their friends and family as well. For Tom, it was his first personal lesson in successful songwriting: "People responded to that song on both sides of the equation, from the mother's point of view and the son's." This rewarding payoff gave him the courage to try a few songwriting workshops. "I remember the critique of that song ["Fair Share"]. ‘It’s not commercial, it’s too long, folk is dead, etc.’ Then one of the other writers said ‘Yeah, but I’m gonna call my Mom when I get home.’" The message resonated with others on a personal level, which led him to another discovery: "In those workshops, they tried to teach you to write songs that are 'commercial' for whatever that word is worth. You can study the craft, which means the format, but studying the soul part of it is extremely difficult and almost pointless. That part has to be lived." The workshops also brought Tom some practical advice by way of suggestion from then-workshop teachers, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil: "Find a job in a recording studio."

The advice was taken and for the remainder of his L.A. years Tom honed his skills by becoming an engineer in a professional recording studio, a job he got by randomly calling music studios out of the phone book. An engineer/producer named Bob Mittoff soon became Tom's mentor (He was, as Tom puts it, "the guy who said yes.") Under Bob's guidance, Tom quickly learned his way around a 24-track studio, a tool that would become invaluable to Tom in the future. "In a couple months I was getting sessions of my own… mostly late at night. Because of my rock band and the theater-sound experience, I learned fast. Within a year Bob moved on and I took his place."

Now working on high-quality demos and independent releases, as well as singing/playing as a sideman for bands playing the L.A. circuit, Acousti watched a wide array of artists record in the studio and perform on stage, ironically enough, learning what NOT to do more of the time than what TO do. "I’d occasionally work with someone amazing like Nicky Hopkins or David Campbell, but most of the time we recorded young inexperienced bands." But this priceless learning experience enabled Tom to shape his own material, and eventually cut his own demo of original songs, where for the first time he was able to experiment with harmonies, melodies and singing technique. "I had all this studio time saved up, which was part of my engineering pay. Micky and I got engaged and decided to move back to New England, so I used the studio time as quickly as I could just before we left L.A. A few other musicians helped on those projects but mostly I’d be working alone between 10pm and 8am or so. One night, Micky was helping run the tape machine, fell asleep, and accidentally erased a string section. It wasn’t ideal."

Although those years were something of a struggle ("L.A. was about trying, not being"), Tom left California with a self-produced demo of original songs, a strong working knowledge of the recording studio, one actress, and a dog named Zack. By this time, Tom’s parents and older brother had all relocated to Portland, Maine. "Maybe they were trying to outrun me, but I had their address so we went crawling ‘home to a place I’d never been before’ – that’s a John Denver quote for you youngsters who don’t know. Even now, living in Nashville, I still consider Maine, home."

Although there were zero recording engineer jobs in Maine at the time, New England did provide perfect opportunities for Acousti to begin performing as a soloist. The first twist of fate came through an accidental weekend booking at Sunday River Ski Resort. "I was waiting tables in Portland at the time. A fellow waiter introduced me to singer/songwriter named Tim Steinwachs and Tim wanted out of these gigs. I wasn’t ready for it but did it anyway. I crammed to learn as many of the ‘right’ songs as possible in an effort to please the apres-ski crowd (‘Apres-ski’ is the 3-6pm happy hour in the ski lodge - I think it’s French for ‘wet, tired and drunk’)." On the second evening, after the crowd’s enthusiastic response, Tom was offered the full-time seasonal gig at Sunday River, performing five times a week.

But more important than the complimentary season lift-ticket, free beer and social scene was the instant outlet in which to test and perform new material. "At first I put my originals in the set just to fill time for these 3 and 4 hour bar room gigs. But I found there were pockets of opportunity when people preferred to hear new stuff…usually near the end, when the crowd was smaller and just chilling out." The success at Sunday River soon saw Tom branching out into local clubs and coffeehouses, particularly a respected Portland singer-songwriter hang called Horsefeathers, where he became a mainstay performer for years.

Constant touring on this New England pub scene helped build the crucial connection with his audience, and planted the seeds for Acousti’s first release, 1988’s 'Process of Elimination.' This vinyl (yes, vinyl) album was sold from the stage and in local record stores, enabling future fans to bring home Tom's music after the remarkable live experience. Local radio requests bore immediate results and WCLZ in Portland put "Where Does Time Go" into regular rotation. "That was a good lesson for me in embracing randomness because it was the song I least expected to get spins."

Now Tom was a professional soloist performing steadily - and to crowds who increasingly knew his songs. "Pubs are hard. But there are certain things that are best learned in that kind of setting…pacing, endurance, how to never insult your audience but still be in control of the room and, most importantly, how to treat a room as one." But Acousti was about to say goodbye to pubs.

The first campus concert offer came through a cold-call from an agent that had taken notice of Tom’s momentum. "The show was at U. Maine in Machias, nearly the most northeastern point in the United States. It wasn’t at all what I had imagined… it was way better." Tom became a workaholic, booking his own college tours and driving endless hours in a Dodge Minivan, ready to embrace each new experience. The youthful, sober atmosphere yielded a lot of space to be filled for a single performer with only a piano and acoustic guitar. There was nothing to loosen up the audience but the music, and when that worked, the reactions were tangible and real; "You couldn’t blame the drinking or the noise any more. You couldn’t hide behind it either. You could feel the connection with the crowd…you could measure it, and that became my drug of choice for a long time."

Then, in 1988, fate twisted again when a spontaneous performance at the popular New York piano bar, Don’t Tell Mama, landed Tom an audition for "Fame, the Musical", a stage adaptation of the popular film. Three auditions later he found himself creating the role of Nick Piazza at the Coconut Grove Theatre in Miami, performing 60 shows in a 3-month span of development. "Fame, the Musical" (without Tom, who quickly returned to the music biz) went on to be a hit in London’s West End as well in professional and amateur productions spanning the globe.

Tom’s next few years would be profoundly influenced by his partnership with a talented young agent/manger, Brent Smith, who saw Tom as both an opportunity and a challenge. By December 1992, when Smith accepted a job at Ian Copeland’s F.B.I. booking agency, he had helped to establish Acousti as one of the top performing songwriters on the national college circuit and executive produced Tom’s "Only; Welcome to Reality" CD as well as the "Only, Live at Carnegie Mellon" video. A cut from ‘Only’ would later be featured in the film, New York Cop [Mira Sorvino]. Smith also played partner to Acousti’s failed 24 track studio venture in Portland, Maine, and stood by as friend during the brewing storm that later became Tom’s life. "Brent was so driven…still is. He’s at William Morris now. I had turned down the Fame [the musical] opportunity, so I had to be driven. The music career grew more exciting but my personal life was becoming a mess. My wife and I were off and on more than once. I wrote "Still Stand" after she underwent hip reconstruction surgery at 28 years old. I was on the road better than 200 days a year in 1990-91. We said yes to everything. The fans were happy but the family suffered." With Tom’s wife seven months pregnant, the failing recording studio (Sound Harbor Studios – now, Big Sound) closed its doors. Two months later, on the exact due date of picture perfect pregnancy, baby Monique arrived unexpectedly and unexplainably stillborn. Acousti’s reaction to this stunning loss would drive his writing and career decisions for years to come. Even as wife, Michelle would give birth to a healthy daughter, Shiloh, less than 2 years later, the couple would finally split in September 1995.

1992 also marked the birth of Acousti’s four-piece concert band, The Happy Bus. Sounds of this unit ranged from pure acoustic to cathartic rock-n-roll. During the band’s first 18 months, ‘The Bus’ performed two east coast tours, and released ‘Express’, a live bootleg style album. "The name was ironic, because the project was my way of dealing with loss and pain. I also had a lot of fun but I was stoned through most of it."

Even while concentrating on the band project, Tom’s "Only, Live at Carnegie Mellon" video had landed him three NACA [the organization that scouts for college campus talent] showcases as a soloist. Then the circulation of this video brought an opportunity that Tom would never have expected…

Acousti’s new agent at New York Entertainment asked if Tom was interested in submitting the video as an audition for the popular television program ‘Star Search.’ Like any idealistic artist, he shot the idea down, but like any good agency, they submitted the video anyway. ‘Star Search’ producers gave Acousti a slot on the ’94 season in which Tom appeared, performing all original works. In a winning streak that resulted in 7 performances, Tom broke the record for "number of wins with original music" in the Male Vocalist category. Acousti also was the first contestant ever to present a song using only an acoustic guitar (no backing tracks - and no hairspray either). (Click for Photo) Although he didn’t win the season championship, the real victory came not only in royalty checks from re-runs (pure gold to a musician), but in what he learned from performing in a high-pressure situation on national television. "I’d performed a thousand plus shows by then, but television is a whole different animal. Matt Frost, who now owns New York Entertainment, was following me around making sure I didn’t screw it up. I’d be just off stage ready to walk on and he’d be holding my tuner and fixing my shirt collar. I’d be trying to tune my Martin [guitar] over the sound of eight tap-dancing seven year olds."

Although a great experience, the ‘Star Search’ exposure only served to further fragment Tom’s career. "I got some interesting offers but none that made sense…and some were really strange." By the time the shows aired Tom had no management and was focused on just getting by. By the summer of ‘94 the Happy Bus was recording in the studio with new member, guitarist Teel who joined the band’s final east coast tour in the fall. Touring economics could no longer support the band, so even as the national magazine Campus Activities Today featured The Happy Bus as the cover story, Tom and Teel were already touring as an acoustic duo and producing new tracks as a team…and Acousti was clean and sober. "I finally made a real commitment to 12-step work that I still need today. I had to change everything. The band was gone. My wife and daughter moved to Arizona. Everything fell away. I sort of moved to New York but I was rarely there…I was practically living on the road again."

As the wreckage and Tom’s head cleared, New York City became fertile ground for healing and recovery. Guitarist Teel’s superior musicianship and sober focus served as a gateway to new opportunities. Highlights of 1995-96 included new recordings, co-writing, and showcase gigs in ‘the city’, all of which made touring seem increasingly less interesting. "Teel and my friend Rebecca Martin (then _ of the duo Once Blue, which also featured writer/guitarist Jesse Harris who cleaned up with Nora Jones at the 2003 Grammy awards) introduced me to a world of wonderful creative people who broadened my view, like Scott E. Moore who now runs the Writer’s Hang in Hoboken, Peter Vitalone who did a lot of tracks on my current album and an amazing bass player named Michael Visceglia [Suzzanne Vega, October Project]. As a songwriter I’m a Nashvillian, but as an artist my heart is still in New York."

By 1997, feeling burnt out and disconnected from his audiences, Tom stopped touring altogether and packed for Nashville, Tennessee. "Because I had to do it [tour], I felt trapped, and started losing respect for my audience and myself. I had spent a lot time in Nashville and I knew it would inspire my writing. It did."

But it wasn’t so easy. Acousti waited tables and painted houses to get by while studying computer programming - but he did write and he did record plenty. Unencumbered and far from the commercial demands of the profit-driven music business, Tom slowly regained control of his creative process. Writing and recording in his small home studio, Tom slowly reconnected with the roots and meaning behind his love affair for storytelling in song. Then in 1998 came two phone calls, which truly planted the seeds for his latest release ‘Bloom: Everything is Everything Volume I.’

The first was a call from an independent film director who wanted Tom to write and produce tracks for his film, ‘Alligator Alley.’ The director and lead actor were Britt Nichols and David Norona (David now appears as ‘Leon’ in the NBC hit series ‘Mr. Sterling’). Both were fans of Acousti from their days as Carnegie Mellon University students, and were even present for the videotaped concert back in ’93 which landed Tom on ‘Star Search.’ This opportunity was just what Tom needed to stay motivated. "I was thrust into another situation where I could make music and be artistic and it had nothing to do with selling anything because the sale had been made years ago. I put some more work into my studio so I could produce quality tracks by myself… I’d stay up all night tracking and reading manuals to meet the deadline." But it was the second phone call, from a complete stranger, which absolutely grabbed Tom by the heartstrings and changed his world in a matter of minutes.

The call was from a woman named Debbie Hobson, whose husband Ken, a U.S. Army Sergeant, was killed three days earlier in the August 7, 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. Though Tom didn’t know Debbie or Ken, Debbie had explained how some of Tom’s music played a special role in their relationship, and that "Still Stand" (from Tom’s ‘Only’ release – as a student at a Maine university, she had been one of the first to buy a copy) was "their song." She requested Acousti play the song at Ken’s memorial service and he, of course, agreed. Tom and Debbie spoke for over an hour that first night, as she relayed stories about Ken, their daughter Megan, and their life together. Debbie used the phrase "bloom where you’re planted", describing the positive way in which her late husband had lived his life. This became the germ of a song and eventually grew into the overall inspiration for the entire ‘Bloom’ album.

The next day, Tom wrote the hopeful and bittersweet song, "Bloom Where You’re Planted" as a gift to Debbie and her, now fatherless, 2-year-old daughter Megan. The day before the ceremony Debbie heard the new song for the first time and requested it be played as well. In a beautiful twist that same day, Debbie was given the news that she was pregnant with another child, and in 1999 Megan had a baby sister, Abbie, a second daughter whom Ken Hobson would never know. The strength and faith of the surviving families inspired Tom. The importance that Debbie Hobson placed in the healing power of music stirred something within Tom, putting him on a mission to write, record and complete the entire ‘Bloom’ album: "This was proof, to me, that even during the years when my faith strayed and I lost my way, someone else had continued to listen to my music with respect and gain strength from it. That was the point at which I began to return to my most sacred influences, and when the album began to take shape." ‘Bloom: Everything is Everything Volume I’ (Volume II to be released separately) would take nearly 3 years to complete, during which Tom welcomed his son Camden Vincent into the world.

Bloom’s collection of songs is just beginning to find its way into the hearts of those who could use a little healing, uplifting, and love - as well as turning heads in the music business (See News). Songs like "Around Me Now", "Man Again" and "Beside You Two" capture Acousti’s deep and mature essence better than ever, while "Forever Right Now", "Beside You Two", and "Diaper Dance" remind us that family is not only a priority for Tom, but still his greatest inspiration. "I get the best parenting advice from my kids. It starts early if you listen closely."
Mirroring Tom’s life, love and family, ‘Bloom’ is a milestone that a sober and optimistic Acousti can proudly call his own; "These albums satisfy me to no end…the musicians who contributed to it were amazing" boasts Tom, who is clearly driven these days. Some of those contributors include Guitarist and long time collaborator Teel, Matt Walker (Nashville Symphony), Lance Hoppen (Orleans), and Gene Libe (Nashville Bluegrass Band).

Another discovery of Acousti’s while in Nashville was the Science of Mind philosophy. As part of a growing progressive spiritual community, Tom took shared music, took classes and embraced a new healing avenue. “Now I can see how all of this was really helping me to heal from my own loss and grief that still lingers from years ago."

Tom settled back in Portland Maine in 2003. By 2005 he had cut his teeth in an entirely new phase of creating by way of co-writing songs with children as a team member of the award-winning nationally recognized Kid Pan Alley organization. Since then, Tom has continued to hone and expand that craft working with all ages of kids in different workshop formats. Kids Kreations Songwriting Workshop is a fast-paced writing workshop for elementary age. Working closely with Foothills Summer Arts camp in Farmington, Maine, Tom has developed Tunes & Tech, a special program for middle school students. This workshop includes both individual and group hands-on experience with songwriting as well as music production using the latest software. Since 2004, Tom Acousti has served as Artist-in-Residence to The Arts Academy at PATHS (Portland Arts & Technology High School) Music Program developing an experiential Pro Tools based music production program. Each year, students learn the ins and outs of making great recordings ending in a full-length student-made CD.

In 2006, Acousti became Music Director at The Maine Beacon, Center For Spiritual Living, a fast growing Science of Mind Community. He smiles, “We are creating something new and useful from the ground up… much like what we did in Nashville but I am more than a spectator now.”

In 2008 Tom established Sound Harbor Music Publish dedicated to creating, producing, and delivering songs to tomorrow’s market. Like everything Acousti does now, the business will have a social side and a progressive mission statement. But the new venture’s primary focus is to write and deliver radio friendly songs to some of today’s top name talent as well as film and T.V.

Tom Acousti wears his influences proudly but emerges as his own individual, continually drawing from personal experiences and the world around him. His songs are healing processes, where we find Tom in some cases quite at peace, and in others still recovering from painful experiences of his past. His stories and characters are fresh to the listener, as Tom gracefully takes his audience on his journey of self-discovery through today’s quickly changing world. To quote a lyric from "Bloom Where You’re Planted", "the story grows." With an artist such as Tom Acousti, the story always grows - and like the work of his influences, Tom’s songs have already begun passing the test of timelessness.
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Written by Jon Rubin
Writer, Jon Rubin, first met Tom Acousti after his ‘New Year’s Portland’ performance ’94 –’95 in Portland, Maine. Jon, at that time the music editor for Washington, D.C.’s University Reporter (UR), left with a copy of ‘Only’ to review the album and live show. Since then, the two have shared a musical connection (Jon is also a founding member of the NYC band, Sky Blues) , and a great friendship. Jon Rubin is now an Associate Producer and Writer at VH1.
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