News
September 26, 2025Hello again, Tom here; at the start of what I intend will be a somewhat more regular series of chats and updates. Of course; at my time of life there are not so many changes coming along, and the normal freneticism of a touring folk-musician’s life changes course into quieter backwaters.
Here’s a quick ‘catch up’ of the past while…
Last year (2024) was almost the dictionary definition of ‘frenetic’. I.E. “Involving a lot of energy and activity that is fast, excited, and not very organized, often in a wild or uncontrolled way.” Toward the end of 2023, very little had been planned for 2024. However; the folk gods were already smirking and nudging and on the second week in January, we were touching down in Sydney (yes… the one in Australia) at the start of a NINE-week tour! The ‘folk music business’ being what it is: it is best to draw a veil over the ‘business’ aspect of this madness. The social aspect, though, was huge fun; as Lyn and I visited many new places, made many new friends, happily caught up with old friends – and my cousins in South Australia – heard lots of new music and musicians and generally had a wonderful – if tiring – time.
Suddenly; May and June found us in Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New England. The driving distances were not so daunting as in Australia; but the gigging schedule was rather more packed. Apart from that; take the ingredients of the previous paragraph; mix and repeat! Far from ‘fresh’; literally, off the plane in Dublin to the Rosses Point Shanty Festival; we had a great weekend of singing and ‘catch-up’ with our much cherished Irish musical comrades. (The craic was mighty!)
In retrospect, the following months seem to be entangled with the bureaucracy of the application for a U.S. Work Visa; and – after interminable frustration – a return to San Francisco for the Maritime Music Festival which (much more importantly) allowed us a week-long visit with our beloved ‘Bay Area’ friends Anna and Steve Benincasa-Morales; and their friends (and my recording compatriots): The Sea Dogs.
Lyn’s birthday, by this time, ‘hull-down on the horizon’ (who could have predicted that???) we decided on a romantic, French, getaway in the Narbonne/Carcassonne region; which was cut short by an invitation to to the Royal Albert Hall. (That’s in London; for the enlightenment of the cartographically challenged.) NOT – I hasten to mention – for a gig; but to hear Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends singing three of my songs… amidst a few other numbers, of rather lesser importance!!! Those youngsters are definitely improving!
Mostly thanks to the expert testimony of my ‘brother-in LAW’: Marc Stanley; a fast jaunt to the courthouse in Limerick resulted in a favourable judgement; total rout of the enemy, and a subsequent increase in our bank account!
Having no laurels on which to rest; almost instantly, we were off on a ‘nine gigs in nine nights’ whirlwind U.K. tour. (Perhaps, now, you are becoming familiar with the concept of: ‘frenetic’. At this point we are not yet into November, and twelve months prior, none of the above was actually planned!) One incalculable consequence of all this travelling was the Irish government’s decision to disallow Lyn’s application for Irish Citizenship… on the grounds that she had spent too much time outside the country!!! Can you believe it??? To console her, we've bought a lovely apartment in a small village near Carcassonne. Vive la France! We have no intentions of deserting Ireland and our much-cherished friends, but we can be confident that there’s some great wine in our future!
Reading back over the above; I’m suddenly exhausted – and you’re probably bored rigid – so I’ll stop at this point (almost exactly twelve months ago), and try to complete this catch-up in a few weeks.
Merci beaucoup et à bientôt.
September
16, 2024
November
25, 2023
Anyway ...
Lyn and I have just returned from a week of warm
weather, sunshine, and blue blue skies; during a visit
to my cousin (Jill), at her newly purchased residence in
Olvera (Cadiz province, Southern Spain). This could be
regarded as a rehearsal for our upcoming, nine-week
sojourn in Australia; visiting relatives and friends 'Down-Under'. We
shall also be taking advantage of opportunities to drop
in to a few folk-music festivals and clubs; to sing with
old friends and, hopefully, make some new ones. Although
these aren't 'gigs', you might find us at Illawarra and
Burke & Wills festivals, to join a few rousing
choruses.
A real 'tour'
is on the itinerary, though, in May
and June; when we'll be in Ontario and Nova Scotia. The
itinerary for that can be seen on my 'Tour Schedule'
page. Additionally; we're hoping to be able to attend
the Connecticut Sea Music Festival, in Essex, CT. (Who
knows when we might, ever again, get an opportunity to
enjoy the company of so many old friends and great
singers!)
This impetus
to put pen to paper - in an electronic sense - is the
rapidly depleting number of available copies of my
songbook ... the actual, physical, 'printed paper',
twentieth century sort of thing. At last count, we have
fewer than twenty remaining; and we have no plans to
manufacture any further 'hard copy' editions. To that
end, we can announce that we are now making available a
'downloadable' (PFD) version of Worth The Singin'. It is
the most up-to-date edition; with all the music, lyrics,
images, and annotations of the physical version. With no
shipping charge necessary, the cost will be €12 (twelve
Euros). Drop me a line via e-mail, if you're interested.
Meanwhile ...
stay well and take care of each other. And keep singing
... it's good for you!
April 22 2023
Greetings from a machine
intelligence!
Last Saturday we celebrated
Tom's 80th birthday with a fabulous party at our wonderful local pub, Clancy's Bar. A wide
assortment of our many new Irish friends, plus Tom's lovely
daughter and husband, joined us for an evening of song,
music and laughter. His fabulous birthday cake was created
and baked by Jude, who also used her artistic talents for
the poster on the pub door.
It's been remarkably touching to receive so many good wishes from people all around the globe, as Tom reaches this milestone.
We received poems and videos,
musical parodies and this rather wonderful piece, sent by
our very dear Polish friends, Magdalena, Luke and
Lucy...........but composed by a Chatbot. My first ever fan
letter from a robot - though I have hopes that this is
simply the start of a trend.
November 2022
Having made the decision to let my songbook Worth the
Singin' go out of print, I have been made aware that
there is still an appetite for the physical book - which is
extremely heartening! Doubtless, this has a lot to with the
age demographic of those for whom this music has an almost
indefinable appeal. Thusly we have ordered a further
(completely up-to-date) small print run, which will be
available within a week or so - certainly in time for the
festive season! Perhaps some of the newer generations will
be attracted to a more technologically up-to-date rendition;
so a digital version is also in preparation.
Likewise, I have decided, as we are now resident in Ireland,
to adjust all of my pricing; for recordings as well as for
songbooks, into euros. Thus I have actually reduced the
price for physical products, and invite you to email me for shipping
costs, which will obviously be dependant upon your location.
CDs are now €10 (€12 for Demand
Performance) and Worth the
Singin' is €25.
August 2022
I am both pleased, and somewhat regretful,
that the final copies of my songbook have been sold. We
are currently assembling a digital version, which will
include all of my songs (to date) and be available as a
download. I realise that this is not as satisfying as
holding the physical book, but I have produced one
thousand copies and - at my advanced age - do not feel
that a further print run is viable. I would like to thank
those good folks who have purchased 'Worth the Singin''
and apologise to those who have expressed an interest with
which I am unable to comply. Once we have the digital
version finalized, I will email my mailing list, and
update details on my songbook page. Thanks, as ever, are
due to Ed Wilson for his continued assistance.
June 2022
The Devil & the Deep
Blue Sea
Written and Directed by Stephen Banham
This wonderfully atmospheric little movie, features my old friends Johnny Collins (RIP) and Jim Mageean, on the opening of the sound track, and my own 'Marching Inland' as the video draws to a close. A salutory tale indeed!
January 2022
Here I am again – remember me – Tom Lewis? Of a surety: no one can accuse me of inundating you with bothersome amounts of internet communications. I could make the claim that such reticence is an example of my wish to avoid being a pest: but – in reality – I have to admit that my lack of interaction is proof only of my innate indolence.
I am such an unreliable communicator, that I cannot be confident of when we were last in contact, at what stage of the never-ending saga we last parted company; nor yet your degree of interest … if any! I note, from my last posting to Watery Peregrinations, that – ‘way back in September - Lyn and I had lately returned to Ireland and brought Vent-du-Nord to her new home in Tara Marina. Since then, over a two-month period: we have made some fairly major refurbishments to VDN’s interior (with the invaluable assistance of Paul Croley, of www.boatfiteurope.com): making our latest home a more reasonably comfortable habitat. With the onset of winter, we shall see exactly how comfortable. We do miss the heartening radiance of Moonstone’s solid-fuel stove, but the large, fully-equipped, modern kitchen: complete with dish-washer; is a definite ‘plus’. The next stage will involve some dry-land renovations to the exterior paintwork, and a few minor, underwater, items: such as renewal of the sacrificial anodes. Our target for completion of all of this work is (nebulously) Spring/early Summer. We make no predictions as to what might be the state of the world, by the Summer of 2022: but we are hoping it will be such that we can continue our ‘peregrinations’.
As for getting back ‘on the road’ – in the folk music sense – a short (very short) burst of activity on the U.K. folk club scene, will transpire around the end of March/early April and a jaunt to Vlissingen - in the Netherlands - for a concert with the Scheldt River Pilot's Choir, is on the calendar for August. Understandably: any glimpse of a more detailed future is clouded by the vagaries of Covid. However: I shall do my best to keep my Touring Schedule page updated.
Meanwhile: keep well and stay cheerful ...
and sing whenever you can!
April 2021
As stated on my Welcome page, to celebrate my latest birthday I’m pleased to announce a new ‘shanty’, specifically designed to encourage and proliferate communal singing … so do, please, sing along! This is A SHANTY FOR SINGING. Downloads of this song may be purchased from Bandcamp for $3.00 US. All monies raised by purchases of this song will be donated to the charity: GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance; which helps vaccinate almost half the world’s children against serious diseases. If you purchase this (or any other recordings) from Bandcamp on the first Friday of the month, Bandcamp waives all artist fees.
You can watch a you-tube
video of me singing it, accompanied by the amazing
Seadogs, HERE.
September 2020
All of us are displaying - to a greater or lesser
degree - symptoms of Covid-19; though very few, in
real terms have caught the actual disease. Nearly
all of us are, in some wise, bereft of the physical
company of our friends. Many are limited in the
freedom to move around. Of course; attending
any sort of actual ‘live gig’ is just an
impossibility. The simple offer of an outstretched
hand to a person with whom one wishes to make a
connection is, in these days, regarded as somewhere
on the spectrum between a death-defying act and a
grave social faux-pas.
For myself; the coronavirus symptom most hard to
bear, is the prohibition from performing for an
audience. Many other entertainers, in a myriad of
disciplines, are doing sterling work in various
internet formats … for which I salute their
dedication and ingenuity. I; however; feel quite
crippled in this regard. One technical excuse is
that I have no recourse to a land-line, nor any sort
of high-speed internet connection. Inevitably, this
engenders multiple buffering
hiatuses/freezes/skips/drop-outs and the like; on my
attempts to ‘play for the camera’. Of much heavier
impact - on a personal and professional level - is
my seeming inability to ‘turn on’ in the absence of
an audience. Sad but true: without the two-way flow
… the inimitable audience feedback … I have
difficulty locating both the essential spark and the
sparkle! (That's not to say that I won't be doing
anything at all. Good friends, with the technical
expertise I lack, have offered assistance. There
could be a couple of video-experiments in my
future!!!)
Not that I am suffering a complete lack of
performing opportunities. Having become, over the
decades, happily familiar - though not, I assure
you, blasé - with a position in the spotlight, I am
finding that role usurped by our boat: Moonstone.
The fairly recent gorgeous paint-job (thank you BBC
Films and Elan Eshkeri) is evidently greatly
appreciated by multifarious Irish observers. At
practically every lock and dock, we field glowing
comments along the lines of: “That’s a luvly berge,
y’ve got there!” (For the Irish, evidently, a ‘boat’
is made of white fiber-glass; whilst anything
visually unalike and constructed of steel, is a
barge … ‘berge’!) Often these encounters lead to
conversations, not rarely encompassing some singing
and story-telling. The youngsters amongst the
admiring throngs (small throngs!), are particularly
impressionable. Performances such as these hardly
compensate for the lack of an evening in a folk
club, but they do serve to ‘keep the aspidistra
flying’. (George Orwell. © 1936).
When I will next be entertaining in a folk setting,
I do not know … I’ve recently had the last
confirmation of the cancellation/postponement of the
whole of my Autumn tour. Hard-working and
under-appreciated folk club organizers are being
gracious and cooperative; so nearly every date is
‘postponed until one year hence’. I thank all of
them, most sincerely.
Hope springs eternal; so Lyn and I have our fingers
firmly crossed for Ontario, next May. We can only
maintain an optimism that; in one form or another;
festivals and clubs will resurrect themselves, in
2021.
Of recent time, signing off with a wish for the
recipient’s health and safety, has fallen into
disfavour; so I shall close with … Wassail! (Wha’s
hale?) Tom.
April 2020
Update re. "DEMAND PERFORMANCE", Tom's new
double CD.
We now have a stock of physical CDs in both
the UK and the USA. Downloads are available
from Bandcamp
March 2020
February 2020
CYRIL SAID IT
ALL BEFORE (a new workshop)
Anyway; as with nearly all writings … and particularly with folk songs … things become dated, and terminology subject to becoming arcane. Even more so in matters of technology and closed social societies. Like submarines and submariners!!! Much of the wording, in Cyril’s wonderful songs, suffers from the ravages of time. Likewise; renditions of those songs are easily prey to mis-hearing and mis-interpretation.
As a youngster, not long after WW11, there were very few civilians who did not have a service-person as a relative or neighbour. Their ‘lingo’ and life-style (as we would now put it) was fairly familiar to the majority of the population. Prior to the 1960’s, almost anyone would have no problem understanding that a ‘matelot’ was a sailor. Service personnel in uniform were an unremarkable commonplace on our streets; and their jargon loosely understood. As a young lad I, myself, needed no explanation for ‘No names, no pack-drill’; nor for ‘Batten down the hatches’. Yet ours was not a service family. With the passing of time, much of the terminology of Cyril’s songs is sorely in need of clarification and explanation. Thusly; I have devised a workshop, or show; featuring some of Cyril’s - now - anachronistic language.
It is entitled: CYRIL SAID IT ALL BEFORE. Sub-titled: (but what did he mean?) I'm offering it to festival organizers and other presenters. It is musical, interactive, audience responsive, informative and - I hope - entertaining. If you see it advertised (not that likely, I’ll admit) come and be part of it.
It is always a pleasure – though a pleasure all too rare - to perform with my Polish friends: QFTRY; so four days in Brittany, at Paimpol's Festival du Chant du Marin, was pleasurable indeed. On the Saturday evening /night we were allotted the midnight slot … and it swiftly became obvious to us that somewhere in the audience on the quayside, was a person (perhaps even two or three?) who was not intoxicated.
Of course, we would like to think that the crowd was intoxicated by the music; but that’s just wishful thinking. However; as you can see; the folks on the stage were, likewise, having a great time!
Photo: François
Bensignor (Used with permission)
May 2019
THE WORTH THE SINGIN’ SONGBOOK.......
May 2018
I
normally update this page on a very
unreliable and indecently intermittent
schedule, and at unconscionable long
intervals. But now I must have too much
time on my hands; or perhaps I'm a
little overwhelmed, because I've just
been sent a review of my gig at Tigerfolk,
at The Stumble Inn, Long Eaton,
Derbyshire. All the best 'folk-music
Degree Courses' include seminars on how
to choose the best Promotions/Public
Relations company, to blow your trumpet
for you. Even were I able to afford
such, I am philosophically opposed to
such 'show-biz' shenanigans (dictionary
definition: ‘secret or dishonest
activity or manoeuvring’); so here goes
me: blowing my own
trumpet, with some snippets from this
review. The article can be read in full
on my reviews
page.
..... it is indeed a delight to have
experienced, and now to write about, a
tour of matters maritime with
submariner-singer Tom
Lewis....................
This was a
distinctive and very enjoyable
evening, and I’ll finish by just
adding that Tom’s performance included
a good infusion of singable choruses
alongside the body of more reflective
material. All told, damned good stuff.
Paul
Mansfield
Thank
you, Paul. As an old-time sailor might
expostulate: "Well; blow me down!"
All
for now, Tom.
February
2018
If
‘no news is good news’, then ‘good news’ MUST
be ‘no news’ … so that’s good news!
I’m dreadful at this modern ‘media’ stuff …
that’s why I’m not on Tweetter, Wha’s’at?,
Blinder, Snappychat, Intelegram, and other
like platforms. I do have a b-log going
(that’s the one after ‘a-log’, I suppose) but
I’m hardly the world’s most assiduous
‘blogger’. I sometimes leave so long between
one post and the next, that I need a
refresher-course before I can bring pen to
paper … so to speak! If you’re interested – or
terminally bored – you can click onto: WATERY PEREGRINATIONS
and find out where Lyn and I have been on our
3-year exploration of the English and Welsh
waterways.
We’re now ashore (‘on the bank’ as the
old-time canal people would say), in the
People’s republic of West Yorkshire; with
Moonstone moored behind the house, on the
Leeds and Liverpool canal.
Touring is carrying on apace; with a show
especially for folk clubs, entitled:
‘SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS IN SEVENTY-FIVE MINUTES
(that’s just about two sets!)’
It has to be seen to be appreciated … or
believed.
This year has shaped up to be one with plenty
of foreign travel. I’ll be gigging in Poland,
Belgium, Germany, Ireland and Spain; and
mayhap a couple more of them ‘abroad’ places!
That’s in addition to quite a few bookings at
folk clubs and festivals, in the U.K. That’s
not a complaint … more bookings are always
welcome. ‘Use it, or lose it!’
So that’s it for now … no news is good news.
Tom.
September
2016
I t
has been a year (and a bit) since last I updated
this page. Where does the time go? However;
there is stuff which can definitely be
classified as 'NEWS'!
COMPOSER ILAN ESHKERI BORROWS FOLK MUSICIAN'S MELODY AS THEME IN EXCITING FILM SCORE FOR SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS
When award winning
composer Ilan Eshkeri created the music for
the latest film adaptation for Arthur
Ransom’s SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS, he
incorporated the melody SAILOR’S PRAYER as
one of the signature themes (All Aboard -
click here). Although originally
convinced that this beautiful melody was
traditional, he was very upset to discover
subsequently that it is the in-copyright
work of the established musician and
songwriter TOM LEWIS. Although Tom is hugely
complimented that his music has been melded
into a beautifully evocative orchestration,
the revelation came 2 months after the
film’s release and therefore too late for
Tom’s work to receive an on-screen credit or
official acknowledgement. Hopefully this
notice will go some way to putting the
record straight.
Ilan Eshkeri wishes to express his apology
to Tom for what has happened and is very
grateful to Tom for his gracious handling of
the situation.
Whilst hoping for great audience response to
the film, and for blockbuster sales of the
DVD, Tom says that Tinseltown fame will not
impede him from his normal gigging, far and
wide. Tom, and his wife Lyn, have now
decided that their return from a 30 year
sojourn in the Rocky Mountains of British
Columbia will be permanent, and he’s looking
forward to bringing his songs and stories
back to the British folk club and festival
scene.
(This was first drawn to my
attention by Hilary Waitt; for which I am
eternally grateful. Thanks Hilary.)
As a nice little ego-boost
(for me), part of the promotion for the
movie involved a conversation between Ilan
Eshkeri and the film's director: Philippa
Lowthorpe; whilst the London
Symphony Orchestra were actually
recording the sound-track ... in Abbey
Road Studios!!!
Personally ... I'm thrilled to hear my music
- so beautifully rendered - in such a
context. Cheers folks. Tom.
