Download Tom Rigney has been a part of the San Francisco Bay Area roots

Tom Rigney has been a part of the San Francisco Bay Area roots music scene
for more than thirty-five years. In 2000, after fifteen years as the leader and
electrifying violinist of The Sundogs, fiddler/composer Tom Rigney stepped out
on his own with a hot new band, Flambeau. The repertoire is original, eclectic,
passionate, and filled with a musical and emotional intensity that will come as no
surprise to followers of Rigney’s career.
The son of baseball great, Bill Rigney, Tom is a native of the Bay Area. His
musical career began after he finished his graduate studies at Harvard
University, where he received a Masters degree in Fine Arts.
Tom first rose to prominence in the music scene as the leader/fiddler of the
legendary Bluegrass/Western Swing band, Back in the Saddle. He won a
Bammie award in 1981 for the band’s debut recording. He also wrote their hit
song, “Time and Again”, which rode the country music charts in the Bay Area for
many weeks, no small achievement for an independent release.
After the demise of Back in the Saddle, Tom joined Queen Ida’s Bon Temps
Zydeco Band and toured the world with the Queen in 1983 and 1984. It was at
this time that he developed a love of South Louisiana dance music (Cajun,
zydeco, and New Orleans second line grooves). These styles formed a major
ingredient in the sound of his next band, The Sundogs. Teaming with songwriter
Joe Paquin and slide guitarist T.J. Politzer, Tom and The Sundogs performed
and recorded together for fifteen years. They released seven CD’s (and even an
LP!), including two on the Rounder label. Their last recording, “Dancing Room
Only”, spent eight weeks on the Americana Radio charts nationally. They toured
extensively across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, performing at numerous major
festivals and concerts and at more dances and nightclubs than anyone cares to
remember. Their sound was a scorching blend of Cajun, blues, and roots Rock
and Roll--original Americana music that struck a nerve with audiences all over
the globe.
And now, with the broadening and deepening of his composing skills, and the
refinement of his virtuoso technique on the violin, Tom Rigney steps out as the
focal point of Flambeau, and as the creator of most the band's music. The strong
Cajun/zydeco influence is still present, as are the irresistible dance grooves that
have been his specialty for twenty years. But there is also a deepening of the
emotional range of his music and a concentration on creating moving and
memorable melodies in a wide range of styles--he has literally become a “singer”
on the violin. The music bursts with the energy of the bayou one minute, turns
passionate with a gypsy tune the next; it can raise the roof with a Celtic reel and
then touch the heart with a beautiful waltz; it can drive deep into the heart of the
Blues or evoke echoes of Eastern Europe or the coast of Spain.
In 1998, Tom released the critically-acclaimed “Chasing the Devil” on the
Parhelion label. In 2000, he released Flambeau's debut CD, “Red Boots and
Rice”. Since then, Rigney has recorded and released a new CD (or DVD video)
every year--from "Happy to be Here", Flambeau's rockin' 2003 release that
spent weeks on the Americana radio chart; to "Metamophosis", Rigney's highly
eclectic (and highly-acclaimed) all-instrumental album; to the DVD video/CD
combination "Live at the Throckmorton Theatre" (2006), to three all-blues CDs-"A Blue Thing" (2007), "Back Porch Blues" (2009), "Don't Fight It" (2011)-each of which climbed to Number 1 on the XM/Sirius Satellite Radio Bluesville
Chart; to the latest Flambeau CD, "You're the One" (2012),which received
serious airplay from Americana programmers all over the country.
There is no question that Rigney has become one of the premier blues and roots
music violinists in the world, and continues to be a prolific composer of powerfully
compelling music for the violin, music whose influences come from an extremely
wide range of musical styles within the broad boundaries of American Roots
Music. As a composer, as a violinist, as a band leader, Tom Rigney is a true
American original.