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Tom Guerra

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Tom Guerra
GenresRoots rock, Blues, Garage rock
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter, author, session musician, preservationist
InstrumentGuitar
Years activelate 1970s–present
Websitetomguerra.com

Tom Guerra is an American guitarist, songwriter, and vintage guitar preservationist. He has been a member of Mambo Sons and Dirty Bones Band, has appeared as a guest on recordings by other notable artists, and has released albums under his own name.

Career

Guerra began his music career in the late 1970s, playing in the New England club circuit with blues and rock acts. His primary influences include Rory Gallagher, Paul Kossoff, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and Joe Walsh.[1][2] In the 1980s, Guerra recorded with Rick Derringer, Max Weinberg, Guitar Shorty, Kenny Aaronson, and many others.[3] From 1983 to 1992 Guerra was a member of the garage rock group Dirty Bones Band and recorded four albums with them.[4] He was profiled in Guitar Player magazine in 1991.[5] He started writing for Vintage Guitar Magazine in 1998 and continues to do so to the present day. His column focuses on authentic recording techniques and collecting vintage guitars.[6] Guerra has also received many endorsements from guitar companies including Brian Moore Custom guitars, plus effects and amplifier companies like DST-Engineering.[7] In 1999 Guerra formed the band Mambo Sons with longtime collaborator Scott Lawson. That band released four albums,[8][9] receiving several "album of the year" accolades from publications like NYRock magazine and Modern Guitars magazine,[10] while Lawson was invited to serve as artist-in-residence at the Wallace Stegner house.[11]

In 2009 and 2013, at the request of Johnny Winter, Guerra wrote the liner notes for Winters' series of live albums entitled The Bootleg Series.[9] When Mambo Sons went on hiatus in 2012, Guerra shifted to songwriting, studio session work, and production, as well as working on solo recordings.[12] He also turned to topical songwriting: his 2012 song "Love Comes to Us All" addressed the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and was praised by several Connecticut politicians.[3] In 2013, he recorded "Put Up Their Names - The Ballad of the U.S.S. Frank E. Evans" to honor the 74 sailors lost aboard the USS Frank E. Evans naval disaster off the coast of Vietnam in June 1969. According to Guerra, the purpose of the song is to bring attention to the U.S. Government's refusal to list the names of those 74 servicemen on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.[13] His first solo album All of the Above was released in 2014,[9] followed by Trampling Out the Vintage in 2016,[3] and American Garden in 2018. The latter album included several songs that Guerra had been invited to write for a Yardbirds reunion album that was ultimately shelved.[10]

In 2020, in the midst of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, Guerra released his fourth solo album entitled Sudden Signs of Grace. Guerra said he felt compelled to release it now because "people need music, especially during times like these."[14] In a review of Sudden Signs of Grace, The Big Takeover commended Guerra by stating it's "his best album to date...gorgeous."[15] The video for the title track features guest appearances from a number of rock notables, including Hilton Valentine, Dan Baird, Christine Ohlman, G.E. Smith, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Jeff Pevar, Kenny Aaronson and Morgan Fisher.[16]

In March 2022, "Sentimental Junk," Guerra's fifth solo album was released on the Thin Man Music label, featuring the single "California's Got to My Girl," a duet with Jon Butcher, and also featuring Mike Kosacek on drums, Morgan Fisher and Matt Zeiner on keys, and Kenny Aaronson on bass. A Newsweek podcast called the release "Capturing Lightning in a Bottle."[17]

Guerra has been praised for his commitment to songwriting: in a review of his 2016 album, American Songwriter said, "Guerra has honed his songwriting homework... All in all, the record is that rarity in the rock world: eclectic but never unfocused."[8]

Solo and band discography

  • Exhumed - Dirty Bones Band (1983)
  • Last Remains - Dirty Bones Band (1986)
  • new wOrld disOrder - Dirty Bones Band (1991)
  • Stronger Than Dirt - Dirty Bones Band (1993)
  • Mambo Sons - Mambo Sons (1999)
  • Play Some Rock & Roll - Mambo Sons (2003)
  • Mr. Positive - Jeff Keithline (2004)
  • Racket of Three - Mambo Sons (2005)
  • Heavy Days - Mambo Sons (2009)
  • All of the Above - Tom Guerra (2014)
  • Trampling Out the Vintage - Tom Guerra (2016)
  • American Garden - Tom Guerra (2018)
  • 360 Degrees - Jon Butcher (2019)[18]
  • Sudden Signs of Grace - Tom Guerra (2020)[19]
  • Sentimental Junk - Tom Guerra (2022)[20]

References

  1. ^ Liebman, Joe (4 October 2016). "Tom Guerra Tramples On". For Guitar Players Only. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  2. ^ Prown, Pete (September 2014). "Tom Guerra: Rock and Roll Swagger". Vintage Guitar Magazine. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Tom Guerra talks new CD in guitarist spotlight show". WRTC. 24 July 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  4. ^ "Tom Guerra". TeleModders. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  5. ^ "TOM GUERRA- Guitar Player "Spotlight Demo"". tomguerra.com. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  6. ^ Phillips, Binky (28 March 2014). "I'm in Vintage Guitar Magazine!". Huffington Post. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  7. ^ "Mambo Sons' Guitarist Tom Guerra New Release American Garden!!". Detroit Rock n Roll Magazine. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  8. ^ a b Gerstenzang, Peter (21 October 2016). "Tom Guerra: Committed To Rock". American Songwriter. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  9. ^ a b c Semioli, Tom (4 October 2016). "Tom Guerra Loves Making Rock and Roll Records". Huffington Post. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  10. ^ a b Semioli, Tom (7 August 2018). "From a Yardbird to a Mambo Son! Sowing Seeds in Tom Guerra's American Garden". No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  11. ^ Carra, Gary (12 March 2009). "Nightcrawler: Scott-katchewan". ValleyAdvocate.com. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  12. ^ Wachtel, A.J. (1 March 2015). "Tom Guerra". T Max's Music Site. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  13. ^ Kazek, Kelly (12 June 2013). "3 Sage brothers went down with the ship, other facts about the tragedy of USS Evans". AL.com. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  14. ^ Dehnel, Chris (7 May 2020). "Songwriter Traveling Forward With New Recording". Patch.com. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Pop Goes Tom Guerra - "Sudden Signs of Grace" Revealed". The Big Takeover. 2 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  16. ^ "Tom Guerra - Sudden Signs of Grace". YouTube. 25 June 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  17. ^ ""Capturing Lightning in a Bottle: Recording rock n roll at home w/Tom Guerra"". Newsweek. 5 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
  18. ^ jonbutcher.com
  19. ^ tomguerra.com
  20. ^ tomguerra.com/discography
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