Tom Larson

Tom Larson was born in Maryland, but moved to Colorado at a young age. His family was very musical, so it was never a question whether he was going to play something, just what it might be. Like most children, early on making as much noise as possible seemed the best direction, so drums became the obvious choice. He bought his first drum set in junior high, then really started making some noise.
Tom attended Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, studying Classical Percussion. He played in the San Juan Symphony, as well as picking up jazz and rock gigs around town. After a couple of years, he hit the road, landing in New Orleans. The amazing and seemingly unlimited assortment of music in New Orleans added to what he learned at the University of New Orleans. He graduated from the prestigious Jazz studies program there, studying with Ellis Marsalis, Harold Battiste, Steve Masakowski, David Lee, and Charles Blanq, and working privately with John Vidacovich. He played around the Crescent City, sampling everything from Jazz to Rock and Roll, Funk, Blues, World Beat, Latin, Zydeco, Cajun and Punk.
Larson's next geographic move was to Nashville — Music City USA. Since arriving in 1996, he has become an in-demand session player, and become a part of the diverse of Music City scene (no, it's not all country in Nashville). He has worked or recorded with Nashville bands Delicious Blues Stew, Gene Hafner Trio, Swing Thing, Three Corners, David Bennett, David Frazier, Homemade Water, Michael Ripoll, Steven Hunter, Scott Holt, and Blues Other Brothers. Homemade Water was officially recognized in the highly competitive Music City music scene as one of the "best new bands" with a unique sound absent the traditional drummer, driven instead by Larson's powerful percussion. The band made a trip to the Middle East to entertain U.S. troops there in 2000.
Tom has recorded two solo albums, Synesthesia and Off the Cuff. The latter was recently used as the soundtrack for an independent film, The Ugly Duckling. Tom has also recorded an album titled Tribal Spirit with Ambient Circle Music recording artist Brannan Lane. That album was named "Best of 2002" by Backroads Music. Tom's latest album was recorded with Geno Hafner and Moriah Harris. The Twelve Dancing Princesses is an original soundtrack for a play. Tom has supplied drums and percussion on countless other projects, some of which are shown on his Discography page.
In the last couple years, he has recorded several solo albums, working on his own sound, in addition to appearing on numerous other artists projects. He has been a part of a blues education workshop with internationally recognized educators Shannon Williford and James "Nick" Nixon, also providing a percussion workshop for the city parks department. He was named Music City Blues Drummer of the Year in 2001, and Percussionist of the Year in both 2001 and 2002.