Bio
October 13th, 2006 by Tom Volhein
Since the 1960s, playing music has been a manifestation of life for me. On the road, in coffee houses or the studio; in combos, groups or as a single, playing music was an expression of personal, social and political thought. I worked as a musician for 20 years, playing all kinds of music; folk, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock and country; throughout the US, in all kinds of venues.
After stepping away for almost 20 years to raise a family and explore other careers, I have come full circle back to my musical roots. This site is a piece of my exploration and expression.
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My first foray into music was the clarinet. That didn’t last long, maybe a couple of years in grade school and junior high. Then, at around 12 years of age, I talked my folks into a Sears Silvertone guitar for Christmas. Although that particular guitar wound up as parts for a homemade electric, it was the instrument that started it all. By high school, 1964, I had a Goya classical and was playing local coffee houses. It was the time of folk and protest, so I played and protested. Around 1969, I took up the electric bass and spent the next 17 years traveling throughout the US; playing rhythm and blues, jazz, rock, and country; in clubs, studios, and even churches; as a single, in combos, and in big bands.
In the mid 80’s, I stepped away from performing and spent about 15 years exploring and challenging my beliefs, examining my relationships, raising a family, getting a degree, and trying out professions in the corporate and financial worlds.
Around the turn of the century, the business world had become stale for me, and I began to seriously research other paths. Like everyone, I suppose, I wanted to find something more meaningful. As I was in this transitional time, my best childhood friend became terminally ill. He had been with me in my early music years and he had maintained his passion for and involvement with the music that we had both loved. Living in Kansas, he had become intimately involved with the musicians who were regulars at Winfield (Walnut Valley Festival). Before he left me, he led me back home to the instrument and the music I love and are now my life’s work.
So, with a lifetime’s worth of experiences and a more fierce passion for playing and singing that I had as a young man, I am spending my time in several areas, including:
*** engineering in my own studio
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To expand on this brief biography, over time I am putting together a series of “memoirs” that can be found in the Music Biography section of this site.