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The T(h)oms - Swinging String Duo - & living history musicians

The T(h)oms 573-443-3697 Email to  thomh @ centurytel.net

The T(h)oms are Thom Howard, guitar, vocal & mandolin; and Tom Verdot, violin & banjo. The T(h)oms 573-443-3697 thomh @ centurytel.net

"The T(h)oms" perform a fascinating and highly entertaining range of traditional and popular music.    Utilizing guitar and violin, and a smattering of vintage banjos and mandolins they frequently perform swing concerts and dances, living history events and traditional American fiddle music for dances, re-enactments, and historic commemoration events.  They've taken their music to Brussels for a concert of early swing fiddle at the national Musical Instruments Museum, and played for "heads of state" (which is to say Governor Holden's holiday reception at the mansion in Jefferson City, MO.)    Tom Verdot's inventive sparkling lead fiddle, accompanied by Thom Howard's energetic fingerstyle & flatpicked guitar forms the basis of their concerts, and they have performed around the US and in Europe as a duo and with the classic string band The Skirtlifters.  The pair's set can also include Brazilian and Latin American tunes, ragtime, early swing songs, gypsy jazz and even the crazy cartoon music of the early 20th century.  Both players may switch off to other instruments and interject remarkable solo pieces, so the audience gets more than a duo's worth of variety.    Add a few other musicians - Pippa Letsky and Kathy Gordon, both mainstays of the Missouri old-time scene, and you might catch them as "F-150: a Pickup Band," playing contradances and traditional music venues.    The T(h)oms first recording as a duo was on "Everybody's Got Love," a tribute album of music written by Lee Ruth, sales of which go to support KOPN, mid-Missouri's community radio station (the second oldest in the country!)  In the summer of 2004 they gave the piece they recorded, "Smiling Bob's Bossa Nova," it's European debut while touring with the classic string band The Skirtlifters.    In the spring of 2005 they returned to Europe to present a duo concert of early jazz violin for the Museum of Musical Instruments in Brussels, Belgium.

	Thom Howard Guitarist		The T(h)oms String Duo		The Skirtlifters Classic String Band		Sarah Howard Storyteller
	Sarah & Thom Stories and Music		Tom Verdot Violin Maker & Dealer		Clarke Buehling Banjo Master		Kids Stuff Games & Goodies
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