The Uncarved Block – Part One
We’re very pleased to announce that The Uncarved Block – Part One, will be for sale exclusively on the tour from 11th  March 2013.

The album is a collection of songs that started their life when Tom was travelling India. Originally envisaged part of a double album, Tom spent the past eighteen months working toward this goal. Recording started with the band in Los Angeles at the beginning of 2012 and continued through to the summer. He returned to the UK to start on the acoustic tracks. After the cancellation of the September tour Tom felt he needed to give you something for your patience and generosity over the years. Rather than delay the release until later in the year, he has decided to present The Uncarved Block as two separate works. Part One presents the songs in their truest form: just Tom with acoustic guitar or piano.

The March 2013 tour is an opportunity for Tom’s fans to hear songs from The Uncarved Block – Part One (as well as some old favourites) in their raw form: stripped back, acoustic and vulnerable.

He’ll be joined on stage by good friends and talented musicians: Oli Langford (violin), Danny Keane (piano) and Sam Walker (percussion). Support is provided by Sam Semple and Sam Walker.

“The concept of the ‘uncarved block’ speaks to the natural power and hidden beauty of things and people contained in their original simplicity. It is pure potential, beginner’s mind: the sculpture waiting to be released from an amorphous rock by the skilled craftsman; a blank page waiting for the poet’s words; an empty canvas brought to life by the artist’s well directed brush; an open heart and mind, and perception without prejudice.”
William B. Stewart.

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A quick update on the upcoming March tour. Manchester has now sold out, and we’re down to the last few tickets in London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Dublin, so if you haven’t booked you better get in quick!

Tickets can be purchased by clicking on a date in the the “Upcoming Gigs” column on the website, or via the “Tour Dates” button on the Facebook Page.

We’re also pleased to announce that Tom will have two fantastic support acts for the tour: Sam Walker and Sam Semple.

Finally, many thanks for your feedback on the new look website and Facebook page, which has been overwhelmingly positive! We’re really pleased you like it.

We look forward to seeing you all in March!  Team TB

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As you may have spotted, Tom’s website and Facebook have had a bit of an overhaul. It’s for good reason too, as we’re thrilled to announce that Tom’s next album is coming soon! There will be more on this in the coming weeks but we want to give you a sneak preview of the look and sound now. Check out the audio snippets on the right of this page: there’s a brand new track for your delectation! Have a listen and let us know what you think.

You can get in touch on Facebook as always, but we’re also pleased to announce that Tom is on now Twitter too! Just click on the link in the menu at the bottom of the page to follow @TomBaxterMusic on Twitter, and you’ll find yourself in part of an exclusive club – but it won’t be for long!

We’ll be back with more soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Team TB

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The last of the limited edition EPs has now been sold! Thank you to everybody that bought one, we hope you like them!

Tom has just signed the last of them and they are about to be delivered – which leaves Tom free to keep working on the album (which is sounding great!). If you missed out on a physical copy, you can still get hold of the EP on iTunes.

Thanks again for all of your support - Team Baxter

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Drum roll please – Here it is !

The GOLDEN EP – 3 new tracks, mixed, mastered and ready for your listening pleasure. I have had overwhelmingly positive feedback on the EP so far from the few that have heard it and it is now your chance my dear friends – a few more months to finish the Album and my hibernation will soon be over!

You can either get the EP at iTunes, or alternatively I have 800 limited edition copies that I will sign, seal and deliver to you or your loved one. Just fill in the box opposite and Oli and I will get down to the post office pronto.

The cost is £6. That covers the postage and a new supply of my beloved Sharpies.

Also, just a wee reminder that the October dates have had to be postponed until March, and a couple more added – Check them out here.

Enjoy – more to come soon.

Thanks again for being the best and most patient of friends.

TB

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Forgot to mention yesterday, that I am still playing the Barefoot Amphitheatre on September 1st. There are a few camping pitches available at the Cornwall gig on September 1st - http://www.facebook.com/events/398872186842874/permalink/404698226260270/

And if any of you good folks are in France at the end of September, I will be opening for my little bro’ Charlie… Just me and my guitar, and Oli on violin – should be fun…

Toulouse Le Zenith 14/09/12
Nantes Le Zénith 15/09/12
Paris Casino De Paris 18/09/12
Paris Casino de Paris 19/09/12
Paris Casino de Paris 20/09/12
Lllle Zénith Arena 22/09/12

Happy Tuesday – TB.

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WHO MAKES THESE CHANGES?

Who makes these changes
I shoot an arrow right.
It lands left.
I ride after a deer and find myself chased by a hog.
I plot to get what I want
And end up in prison.
I dig pits to trap others
And fall in.
I should be suspicious of what I want!’

Rumi – translated by Coleman Barks.

Dear Friends,

It comes with great disappointment And a heavy heart as I am writing to you as I have had to make the very difficult decision of postponing my UK & IRELAND tour in October – which so many of you have already bought tickets for.

The new show dates are ( and a few more thrown in )

Mon 11th March: Brighton
Komedia (Buy tickets)

Tue 12th March: Portsmouth
Wedgwood Rooms (Buy Tickets)

Thu 14th March: London
Dingwalls (Buy tickets)

Fri 15th March: Bristol
Tunnels (Buy tickets)

Sat 16th March: Glasgow
Arches (Buy Tickets)

Mon 18th March: Birmingham
Birmingham HMV (Buy tickets)

Tue 19th March: York
Fibbers (Buy Tickets)

Wed 20th March: Manchester
Ruby Lounge (Buy tickets)

Fri 22th March: Dublin
Academy (Buy tickets)

Sat 23th March: Galway
Roisin Dubh (Buy tickets)

Sun 24th March: Cork
Pavillion (Buy tickets)

Mon 25th March: Limerick
Dolans (Buy tickets)

On my return to London from Los Angeles, myself , Oli Langford (string arranger) & Jimi Lundie (Co producer) set up our studio in Oli’s North London house – ‘ Manic Mansions’ . We have been working as hard as we can to finish off the record but for whatever reasons it still has someway to go before I feel comfortable putting the music out into the world.

It is sometimes hard to reconcile why things go the way they go and particularly why this album has been such a journey of expansive open highways to then rather sudden random roadblocks…

But ultimately it is all taking the music on the path it is meant to go on and I feel very confident I have to go with my heart so I can be sure that the end result speaks for itself.

I am really excited about finishing this album and the few people who have heard it are excited about the direction it is going in.

I couldn’t think of anything better than to be on tour right now as I feel like I have been the studio forever !

Please except my sincerest apologies for any inconvenience I may have caused you or your friends and I can only hope that the eventual completion of the album and rescheduled tour will make up for any dissapointments.

Your tickets will of course be valid… If you can’t make it, you can get a refund.

Thank you for your understanding, and until then, best wishes – Tom.

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Here I sit, in front of the mixing desk – still ! getting closer and closer – but also wanted to let you know I am doing this very cool little gig on September 1st down in Cornwall. Look how lovely it is ! Should be a great night – even if it rains !  – Peace. TB.

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Hey – 2 blogs in one month – BLIMEY!! – i don’t know what’s wrong with me! You wait for one bus and then…

First off, thank you for making the London show sell out in 15 minutes !! Very touched, really, thank you -  and so I thought I had better do some more shows! Here’s what we’ve got lined up for you…

• Wednesday, June 20th 2012 The Lexington , London
  Sold Out
• Sunday, June 24th 2012 Westport Festival , Ireland
  Buy tickets
• Saturday, June 30th 2012 Cornbury Festival , Oxford
  Buy tickets
• Tuesday, July 24th 2012 Milton Keynes International Festival , Milton Keynes
  Buy tickets
• Wednesday, September 26th 2012 Ruby Lounge , Manchester
  Buy tickets
• Thursday, September 27th 2012 Dingwalls , London
  Buy tickets
• Saturday, September 29th 2012 HMV , Birmingham
  Buy tickets
• Sunday, September 30th 2012 Tunnels , Bristol
  Buy tickets
• Monday, October 1st 2012 Komedia , Brighton
  Buy tickets
• Wednesday, October 3rd 2012 King Tuts , Glasgow
  Buy tickets
• Friday, October 5th 2012 Academy , Dublin
  Buy tickets
• Saturday, October 6th 2012 Roisin Dubh , Galway
  Buy tickets
• Sunday, October 7th 2012 Pavillion , Cork
  Buy tickets
• Monday, October 8th 2012 Dolans , Limerick
  Buy tickets

You might also notice that we’ve given the website a bit of a spring clean – let us know what you think – nice and simple for now…

I also hope to have an EP for by the end of June…. a little taster of what to expect from the album proper which will be with you later on this year. Now back to that mixing desk -

TB

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Ok so here is my long awaited update from LOS ANGELES

As you are probably aware, over the last few years I have taken rather a long time to make my 3rd album – sometimes, I’ve even wondered myself if it will happen – and to be frank, I wish it could have been a far quicker process, but it is what it is so there’s no way around that!

Even as I write this I still have a way to go,  I’m here in the studio laying down guitars with Wolfie, my co- producer, and although the finish line is still someway off I’m definitely on my way now and everybody involved in the process seems to be really psyched about the vibe of the album (including me – I’m glad to say!)

Here’s what tracks I’m presently working on:
Duel
Golden
Walking Apology
Whatever Made Sugercane Sweet
Arc Of Your Mallet
Love is Not Enough
The Uncarved Block
Undecided
Judas
All that you are

Where We’re Staying In LA.
Some good friends of the family who me & my brother Charlie met through Peter Gabriel,  Pati & Danny Hillis invited me out to their house to make the record!
Danny Hillis is one of the worlds famous progressive thinker / inventors – if you want to find out more about him click the links below:
wikipedia  ted.com  longnow.org

The Hillis compound is an amazing place tucked away in the Encino Valley. Their house is an old Timber framed ranch house built way back in the 1920′s by a successful song writer. To this day it exists as one of the last standing ‘ranch style’ houses left, in what used to be an area surrounded by 100′s of acres of orange & lemon groves -Although the property has gradually, over the years, been somewhat reduced to a smaller plot of 4 acres, it’s original spirit still holds strong and as you enter the wooden gates off the sleepy Encino street, winding down a short dusty track, you enter the wonderland of the ‘Hillis’ microworld.

A bridge (made from  massive railroad sleepers) connects you to another side of the property – (crossing two massive ponds packed with tropical fish)
and at the bottom of the compound lives a collection of stables houses, chicken pens, and other fenced up areas to house the many exotic animals that Pati & Danny have collected over the years  – Alpaca’s, miniature ponies, llamas, peacocks, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits (you name it!) casually roam around as if you were on some ranch in South Africa.

As you walk up to their main house you negotiate your way across small hobbit like bridges arched over trickling streams, through the bursting vegetable gardens and then up to the house where you enter to a welcome of barking dogs, squeeling parrots, and other varied tropical birds.

How did I end up recording in LA?
Pati Hillis was thinking about building a studio on their property for a year or two but it wasn’t until my brother Charlie was staying with them last November that the idea really sprang to life (Charlie’s new album has just come out by the way – www.charliewinston.com)

They both decided to call me up to see if I would be interested in coming out here to make my record, and if I was, it would motivate Pati to get the studio built once and for all!
Even though it was a bit of gamble- I was well up for a change of scene and without much hesitation me & my wife booked our tickets. We arrived on New Years Eve, a little jet lagged but excited to be here and fired up to make an album.

I’ve got 3 months to pull it all together and fortunately Wolfie (a talented producer who I met out here 4 years ago) got involved early on to help make it all happen.
The studio was still being built when we arrived in what was an old garage adjoining a small ranch house – it is at the end of the garden and is now to be known as ‘Patagonia Studios’. So while those guys concentrated on getting the studio set up, I spent most of my time meeting musicians/ making phone calls trying to find the right crew to play on the record.

After a few nail biting weeks Wolfie & the carpenters cobbled together a fully functioning studio and I pulled a band together from different parts of the globe, before long we had started rehearsing in the living room and then when it felt good we went into the studio to start tracking

Who’s playing on the Album?
Piano: Max Greeenwood
Violin & String Arrangements: Oli Langford
Drums: Tamir Barziley
Bass: Nick Fyffe
Backing Vocals: Lily Fraser
Backing Vocals: Vashti Anna
Co Producer: Wolfie
Co Producer: Jimi Lundie

The basic tracks have now been recorded and most of the other guys have done their bit leaving me, Wolfie, Jimi, Lily & Oli (who is hidden away in a room doing string arrangements) here to finish off the record.

There is some way to go, but i think it’s gonna be a good one! (although quite different from anything I’ve done before) In the meantime – I am going to be doing a few shows and festivals over the summer and, I hope to confirm a tour in October ASAP.

Might even have some recorded material on offer !! If not – something will be available on the website soon.

Sending you sunshine from California!

TB

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