Bio
Download PDFYou don't hear many performers stand onstage and announce, "I'm here to sing songs to open my heart and yours." But it's become a common thing for songwriter Michael Tomlinson to say early in his concerts. It's not that all his songs are soft, deeply meaningful ballads. There are jazzy pop tunes that get you to tapping your toes, folk rock songs that have you remembering trips down the highways of your youth, and yes, there are some of those deeply meaningful ballads.
In the almost 30 years that Michael has been traveling and performing, releasing album after album of beautiful songs and lyrics, his concerts have grown to become something uniquely his own. Whether he is standing center stage at the Universal Amphitheater in L.A., The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis or the Barns at Wolftrap near Washington, D.C., he brings you into his living room - or maybe around a campfire alongside an icy river in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where he lives.
At a recent concert Michael Tomlinson was performing in Washington State, he was visiting with the audience at the end of the concert when one man said, "Michael, for over 25 years I have loved your songs and played them over and over again. But tonight, after hearing your stories too, I honestly don't know whether I like your songs or your stories the most." It made Tomlinson smile because they are all interwoven, the humorous stories or soulful insights he may share through an evening of songs. They just go together to make an evening unlike any concert most people have ever attended. At another recent concert, an outdoor concert under the sparkling desert skies of Sedona, a couple approached Michael after his last song and the man said, "Michael, I've been to hundreds of concerts in my lifetime, I'm a musician myself. That was in my Top 5 concerts of my life. But the thing that I have to tell you isn't even about the music, I have never, ever been to a concert where the artist was as present with the audience as you were."
That really is it. Michael Tomlinson weaves his stories and songs of his life into a cinematic experience where the audience feels truly sang to, they feel that they are not just getting a repeat of songs they've heard on their favorite albums for years, but that they are getting the actual man, the friend they've imagined all those years, to sing and talk to them as if they'd known each other their whole lives.
Michael Tomlinson's current release, 'The Way Out West', was recorded over a two year period with the support of talented musicians from across the U.S. and Europe including Miles Gilderdale of Acoustic Alchemy. The album is a vibrant collection of songs ranging in styles from folk and pop, to jazz and rock - and reviewed by RockTimes of Europe as a "Top 10 Album of the Year." Michael is now composing a collection of new songs for his next release and performing concerts around the United States.
In the almost 30 years that Michael has been traveling and performing, releasing album after album of beautiful songs and lyrics, his concerts have grown to become something uniquely his own. Whether he is standing center stage at the Universal Amphitheater in L.A., The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis or the Barns at Wolftrap near Washington, D.C., he brings you into his living room - or maybe around a campfire alongside an icy river in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where he lives.
At a recent concert Michael Tomlinson was performing in Washington State, he was visiting with the audience at the end of the concert when one man said, "Michael, for over 25 years I have loved your songs and played them over and over again. But tonight, after hearing your stories too, I honestly don't know whether I like your songs or your stories the most." It made Tomlinson smile because they are all interwoven, the humorous stories or soulful insights he may share through an evening of songs. They just go together to make an evening unlike any concert most people have ever attended. At another recent concert, an outdoor concert under the sparkling desert skies of Sedona, a couple approached Michael after his last song and the man said, "Michael, I've been to hundreds of concerts in my lifetime, I'm a musician myself. That was in my Top 5 concerts of my life. But the thing that I have to tell you isn't even about the music, I have never, ever been to a concert where the artist was as present with the audience as you were."
That really is it. Michael Tomlinson weaves his stories and songs of his life into a cinematic experience where the audience feels truly sang to, they feel that they are not just getting a repeat of songs they've heard on their favorite albums for years, but that they are getting the actual man, the friend they've imagined all those years, to sing and talk to them as if they'd known each other their whole lives.
Michael Tomlinson's current release, 'The Way Out West', was recorded over a two year period with the support of talented musicians from across the U.S. and Europe including Miles Gilderdale of Acoustic Alchemy. The album is a vibrant collection of songs ranging in styles from folk and pop, to jazz and rock - and reviewed by RockTimes of Europe as a "Top 10 Album of the Year." Michael is now composing a collection of new songs for his next release and performing concerts around the United States.
