There's something familiar and refreshing about Tom Evanchuck. The twentysomething who spent his childhood and formative years in Perry, Cleveland, Strongsville and Chardon is a student of Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Doc Watson – singers, songwriters, guitarists, storytellers and folk legends.
Evanchuck's vocals are clear, crisp and in tune, free of the deliberately strained, faux gravelly vocal stylings of similarly aged musicians carving a niche in this genre. He sings his age, and relays narrative that speaks of the romanticized transient experience. His acoustic guitar playing carries the ardor and timbre of the Appalachian tradition. Plugged in, Evanchuck, strapped to a black Gibson Les Paul Studio fitted with a Bigsby bridge, creates a tonal and visual portrait that pays direct homage to his most direct influence: Neil Young.
"Influence will start with Neil Young, but it depends," says Evanchuck. "For these newest songs I've been writing, it's been a lot of Ray Charles, Otis Redding and Lightnin' Hopkins." His reference material when crafting "folkie/blues/singer songwriter stuff" includes Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie McTell, John Prine, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. The latter two appear most overtly.
On tracks like "Come One, Come All," Evanchuck channels Simon in vocal delivery, strenuous plucking exercise and folk-beat rhythm, all effortlessly spread across six strings for an all-too-brief four and a half minutes. "Old Train Blues" is the most upbeat blues number this side of the Cuyahoga, with lyrics that ostensibly speak more to camaraderie than isolation: "If you catch me by the old train station, I might not be alone." The rails are a recurring theme in his often quixotic narratives.
"It's not so much me wanting to run away on a train and skip from town to town – I like the idea of that though," says Evanchuck. "It's who I learned from; those were the people who did that, or people whose friends did that. I want to build a story or an image of what's happening, really a feeling."
"Take Me Back" is Bukka White, Howlin' Wolf and Dylan as filtered through Evanchuck's perceptive discernment. "One day, I sat down, started strumming the riff … started singing, and wrote it down," he says. "It's about a man's struggle with the things in life – hardship, family, love – and wanting to go back to before you really grow up and have to face everything that comes at you."
WATCH: Tom Evanchuck - "Take Me Back"
"Live From Bad Racket" is a monthly music video series that invites local acts to perform in Adam Wagner's Bad Racket studio in Cleveland. To watch Cleveland's Founding Fathers perform at Bad Racket click here. To watch Signals Midwest exclusive Bad Racket performance click here.
