Tom Paxton Biography

Thomas R. Paxton is a well-known American folk singer and singer-songwriter.

He was born October 31, 1937 in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest child of Burton and Esther Paxton. The Paxton family moved to Bristow, Oklahoma in 1948, where Tom grew to adulthood and which he still considers home. He attended the University of Oklahoma, where he majored in drama and developed an interest in folk music.

After time in the Army Reserves, Paxton moved to New York City where he frequented the city's Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit. His early success in Greenwich Village coffeehouses led to an ever-increasing circle of work. He made his professional debut at the Gaslight, the renowned folk haunt that also issued the singer's first album. In 1962 Gaslight Records would press 2,000 copies of his debut album, I'm The Man Who Built The Bridges.

Paxton also auditioned to join the Chad Mitchell Trio, but although he failed, the group enjoyed a 1963 hit with "The Marvelous Toy," one of his early songs. Paxton performed at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, a performance that would be recorded and released by Vanguard Records. Paxton would go on to record a second album with Vanguard at the Newport Folk Festival the following year, but his association with that record company lapsed and it would not be until the year 2000 that Vanguard once again released a Tom Paxton album (Tom Paxton: Best of the Vanguard Years). In 1964 Paxton was signed to Elektra Records for whom he recorded his best-known work. Then in 1965 he made his first tour of the United Kingdom — the beginning of a still-thriving professional relationship that has included many tours of the country in succeeding years.

He and his wife Midge have been married since 1963 and have two daughters; Jennifer and Kate. All three women have served as inspiration for many of Paxton's songs. He now has three grandsons; Christopher, Sean, and Peter.

In addition to songwriting, Tom Paxton has written many critically acclaimed children's books, some of which were inspired by his songs for children.

He has performed thousands of concerts around the world in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Scandinavia, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada. Paxton enjoys a strong relationship with fans throughout the world. His songs have experienced enduring appeal, including modern standards such as "The Last Thing on My Mind" (perhaps Paxton's best-known song, it has been recorded by dozens of artists, including Judy Collins, Sandy Denny, Dolly Parton, and Porter Wagoner), "Ramblin' Boy", "Bottle of Wine", "Whose Garden Was This", "The Marvelous Toy", and "The Hostage" (which recounts the 1971 uprising at Attica State Prison).

Tom Paxton's songs can be emotionally affective, and cover a wide range of topics, from the serious and profound to the lighthearted and comical. "What Did You Learn In School Today?" mocks the way children are often taught lies. "Jimmy Newman" is the story of a dying soldier, and "My Son John" is a moving song about a soldier who comes back home and can't even begin to describe what he's been through. "A Thousand Years" tells the chilling tale of Neo-Nazi uprising, and the "Train for Auschwitz" is about the holocaust. "On the Road to Srebrenica" is about Muslims who were killed in a 1995 massacre in Bosnia and Herzegovina. "The Bravest" is a song about the firefighters who gave their lives while trying to save others on September 11, 2001. Then there are Tom's lighthearted "short shelf-life songs", which are topical songs about current events and things in the news, and these songs change all the time as new ones are written and old ones can reappear as things have a way of cycling around in this world. There's "In Florida" about the 2000 election scandal, "Without Delay" a song about the disgraced former congressman, "Bobbit" about the John and Lorena Bobbit fiasco, "Little Bitty Gun" which lampoons Nancy Reagan, there's the hilarious classic "The Ballad of Spiro Agnew", and "Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation" among others.