Tom Draughon is the owner of and executive producer for Heartistry Music, a record
label devoted to music and artists of the Lake Superior region.. A notable performer
and enthusiast of acoustic music, Tom plays a wide variety of instruments, including
guitar, violin, banjo, and piano. He has performed with Tom Paxton, Randy Sabien,
and Molly and the Makers and appears as a session musician on over 25 recordings
as well as on his own CDs “Second Wind,” “Aftermath,” and
“Kids on the Mountain.” Tom performs with his acapella vocal group Sons
of the Voyageur, and his new acoustic trio, Take 3. He also currently serves as
Adjunct Professor of Music at Northland College.
DISCOGRAPHY Tom appears on all of these great recordings. MORE ABOUT TOM
Tom Has Appeared At These Fine Venues:
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Weber Music Hall, UMD
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Belle Chere Festival, Asheville, NC
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Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua
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Mabel Tainter Theater,
Menominee, WI |
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ESPN Great Outdoor Games
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Thomas Wolfe Auditorium,
Asheville, NC |
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A Prairie Home Companion
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Mitchell Auditorium,
College of St. Scholastica |
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Edinburgh Folk Festival
Edinburgh, Scotland |
Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, Asheville, NC
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MN Public Radio Morning Show
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Barron Arts Center, Barron, WI
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Grand Theater, Wausau, WI
(with Tom Paxton) |
Two Harbors Folk Festival, Two Harbors, MN
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WOJB Concert Series
(with Tom Paxton) |
The Coffeehaus, Northland College
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Old Timers Music Festival
(with Tom Paxton) |
Fiddlers Grove, Statesville, NC
(with Don Pedi) |
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Festival du Voyageur,
Winnipeg, Manitoba |
Iron World, Chisolm, MN
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Bob Dylan Festival, Duluth, MN
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McDibb’s, Black Mountain, NC
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Ashland Folk Festival, Ashland, WI
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Great Northern Bluegrass Festival, Mole Lakes, WI
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LCO Casino (With Randy Sabien
and Kevin McMullin) |
Enzion Theatre, Orlando, FL
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Tom Draughon is the real thing. Born in North Carolina
and raised in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia, there is no finer
performer of traditional Appalachian music. A consumate instrumentalist, Tom
renders authentic fiddle tunes, banjo songs, flat and finger-picked guitar styles
combined with clear vocals to bring the mountains to you. His experience in
other genres of traditional music and virtuoso guitar technique bring a unique
facet to his performances. Tom has performed and recorded with such artists
as Patrick Sky, Tom Paxton, Don Pedi, Bruce Greene, Sheila Adams, Jim Taylor,
Timmy Abell, and many others. His latest CD with his trio Indian
Summer was just released in early 2006. Tom is the founder and owner of
Heartistry Music.
Tom was born in North Carolina. The son of a jazz pianist, Tom quickly
took to music, singing and playing ukelele by age 5. Tom was captivated by the Beatles’
first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, and by age 9 was performing on teleramas. Tom
has always had diverse musical interests and has been influenced by many genres from
Bach to R.E.M. Tom took a keen interest in traditional folk music while still in high
school in the early 70′s, idolizing Doc Watson, John Hartford, the Red Clay Ramblers; and also took
a keen interest in instrumental fingerstyle guitar, revering such artists as Leo Kottke,
John Renbourn, John Fahey, Bert Jansch, Robert Johnson and others.
Tom performed throughout his his high school and college years, writing
guitar instrumentals, and performing many traditional tunes and songs as well as writing and
arranging for his bands Wild Oats and Second Wind. Though he graduated from Northland College
with a B.S. in Environmental Studies/ Outdoor Education, he continued to perform throughout
Wisconsin with these bands and as a solo artist. Wild Oats can be heard on Wisconsin
Public Radio’s album, “A Simply Folk Sampler”.
Moving back to North Carolina to live in the Appalachian Mountains in
and around Asheville, Tom began playing and performing with dulcimer wizard, Don Pedi, and many
others including Jim Taylor, Patrick Sky, Bruce Greene, Martin Fox, David Wilcox, Sheila
Adams Barnhill, Timmy Abell, Michael Garner, Joe and Karen Holbert, David Skinner, and
more. While in Asheville, he recorded his album, “Second Wind”, as well as recording
with Don Pedi, Jim Taylor, Sheila Barnhill, Bruce Greene, and Joe & Karen Holbert. He
also created and hosted the Public Radio program “Second Wind” on WCQS, The Mountain Air
Network, where he hosted and interviewed many well known folk music celebrities.
Many performed live on his show.
Tom now resides in northern Wisconsin by Lake Superior, where he still
performs and records and organizes a series of square dances. Recent collaborations include
playing backup guitar for Tom Paxton, forming the Irish band Way Up North, recording with Bruce
Burnside and Kevin McMullin, singing music of the Voyageurs, and performing at the
Edinburgh Folk Festival.
