Tom Vollman profile picture

Tom Vollman

The Betty Violet

About Me

Tom Vollman - The Betty Violet is now available!!! Officially released on August 12, 2008. Click the photo below to purchase a CD copy or click the iTunes link to purchase an electronic version.
The foray seemed tempting, and at times, even inviting, ultimately ending in The Betty Violet. Clustered between the brick walls of a Chicago south loop loft, the record’s 11 tracks were culled and combed into focus revealing splices and glimpses into the oft-broken, collective consciousness of rock-n-roll. The intention was one of pure revelation—a communion with a bleak obsession of the inescapable, laced with the hopefulness of salvation. The attempt was a stab at capturing the colors of the twilight. The result was pure delight.
In the late summer of 2007, Tom Vollman began recording his debut solo record, The Betty Violet, at the aforementioned Chicago loft seeking to make nothing more than a sparse and hopefully telling folk rock record mimicking the punk ethos of his teenage, Southern California charges. The evolution to the present tense, it seemed, was unavoidable with aimless ideas and notions emerging from the very onset, nursed by the steady, yet influencing hands of excitement and experimentation.
As the fall gave way to winter and early January crept its frozen head around the hedge of late December, The Betty Violet fell into shape. Mixed in the same space where it was recorded (Rattlesnake Studios), the tracks were pushed onward to The Echo Lab, where they careened to their current state.
Set for release August 12, 2008, The Betty Violet, casts a sharp nod to the strains and hails of gritty Americana, while paying mind to the shifting boughs of the high lonesome. The Betty Violet flows from front to back with a shining albeit patient swagger—the convincing and overtly believable stride of characters categorizing their experiences (lived, imagined and misremembered) through the words, images and rhythms of a gifted songwriter.
For further information, please visit www.thomasjamesvollman.com. For booking or press inquiries, please contact Marcus Roberts via e-mail at [email protected].
Tom Vollman - Live In Chicago - 2006 is also available!!! Click the photo below to purchase a CD copy or click the iTunes link to purchase an electronic version.
To view Tom Vollman's EPK, click on the SonicBids logo below.
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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 11/8/2006
Band Website: thomasjamesvollman.com
Band Members:

Tom Vollman: Guitars, Vocals
Also engaging, from time to time...
Ted Fleming: Drums
Chris Dorch: Guitar & Backing Vocals
Bob Berry: Bass
Rob Bueller: Drums
Kris Crow: Rhodes/Wurlitzer, Piano, Guitar

Influences: The clang of a lonely autumn bellewether foul; the quiver and quake of the patient tide; and the passing teeter of a dying American Sweetheart.

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Type of Label: None

My Blog

re: The Betty Violet - Release News

Hi All-The Betty Violet (the debut solo record) is finished and set for digital release very soon. We're taking CD pre-orders now via the web site (www.thomasjamesvollman.com).Stay tuned for digital d...
Posted by Tom Vollman on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 01:16:00 PST

re: white city

yet another one from the as-of-yet unfinished record. it won't be long, though.at any rate, this is a bit of a desperate claim written as a stop frame, documenting a relationship falling apart on the ...
Posted by Tom Vollman on Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:48:00 PST

re: the sweet hereafter

this one's a song about a portion of a summer i spent in los angeles, a handful of OC skate punks, colt 45, and the 7-11 parking lot on the corner of olympic and la cienega boulevards. it's sketch, i ...
Posted by Tom Vollman on Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:32:00 PST

re: genevieve

a short one, again taken from the new record, about a dream i had in which saint genevieve (the patron saint of paris, france) and i spent a night getting lost and found in the city of chicago. it's a...
Posted by Tom Vollman on Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:20:00 PST

re: delancey

here's another unfinished one from the upcoming record. it's called 'delancey' and it's a rough sketch of a moment in october of 2006 when i was crossing the street at delancey and ludlow (nyc) and ev...
Posted by Tom Vollman on Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:11:00 PST

re: glass city lullaby

this is the first of a few not-quite-final-mix tracks from the upcoming 'the betty violet' release that we'll be posting in the next couple weeks. sadly, it has nothing to do with toledo, oh (the orig...
Posted by Tom Vollman on Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:28:00 PST

The Betty Violet - CD Release News

hi all-here's a little update from the recording side of things...tom has completed the bed tracks and vocals for his upcoming solo release entitled 'The Betty Violet'. there's a bit more tracking, tw...
Posted by Tom Vollman on Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:57:00 PST

The Onion A.V. Club Pick

From The Onion - Madison, WI - 1/4/07 The Onion A.V. Club Pick "With his band Moonshine Sway, Tom Vollman released a couple of EPs and the 2004 LP Seven Years , a pleasantly rough set that migh...
Posted by Tom Vollman on Sun, 07 Jan 2007 05:33:00 PST

live in chicago-10/26/2006

hi all- the live record is finished and in circulation. a big hearty thanks to caleb willitz for the recording and mixing duties and ryan stagg for putting the wheels in motion. look for it on-line so...
Posted by Tom Vollman on Thu, 07 Dec 2006 02:55:00 PST

live tracks...

thanks to caleb (and ryan) for the tracks. the new 'mixed' ones will be available soon. for now, lay back and enjoy the raw ones. they're from 10/26/2006 at wise fools pub in chicago. 'tis the rebir...
Posted by Tom Vollman on Wed, 15 Nov 2006 03:31:00 PST