Someone
mentioned the name ‘Barlow’ to me this morning and my mind stumbled back to the
early nineties when I was on the air at a radio station in St. Catharines,
Ontario. We were presenting a couple of Moxy Fruvous shows at a high school.
The opening act
for night-one was a Toronto band called The Gravelberrys featuring Paul Myers.
The next night, The
Tom Barlow Band was starting on stage.
Tom Barlow had a
bit of a Corey Hart meets David and David means Shawn Mullins vibe. I hope he would take that as a
compliment – not so pouty though. His songwriting was clean and crisp. And he liked to have fun with his music. I
remember listening to his independent CD thinking that these tunes were catchy.
(That’s a compliment too.) I liked the idea that it felt like I was discovering
music before anyone else knew it existed so I could say “I knew him when…”
It wasn’t long
after those shows that Barlow (he’s just Barlow now) released his self-titled
major label debut featuring two top-ten radio hits and garnering three JUNO
Award nominations. Once again, Barlow’s way with lyrics and the progression of his
songs shone through.
Barlow is still
a busy guy. He is probably one of the most successful jam-hosts in Toronto. And
he recently released a new album. “Burning Days” is a socially conscious effort
and the CD’s first release “Steal Like a Billionaire” reflects the anger that
people around the world feel towards apathetic financial institutions.
Barlow continues
to tour. He definitely has something to say about the state of the world too –
check out his Twitter feed. And I’m proud to say that
I knew him when…
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