Local singer-songwriter Tom Heyman celebrates new album at Make-Out Room
SAN FRANCISCO — Noted local songwriter Tom Heyman celebrates the release of his new solo album 24th Street Blues with this show at the Make-Out Room Sunday that also features Bay Area roots rockers Tarnation.
A veteran musician who first came into the public eye as one of the principles in Philadelphia-based band Go To Blazes in the late '80s, Heyman put out five albums and toured extensively on both sides of the Atlantic up until the band split in 1997. He would relocate to San Francisco the following year, quickly settling into the local scene with stints playing guitar and pedal steel with such renowned local acts as alt-country outfit the Court & Spark, songwriter Chuck Prophet and X bassist John Doe's solo band.
Heyman also started recording his own roots-oriented songs as a solo artist, tracking a series of albums including the live covers collection Ballads, Blues and Union Dues and his latest effort, the pub-rock inspired new collection Show Business, Baby that came out in 2017 on his own Bohemian Neglect Recording Works imprint. With his long-running Sad Bastard Club night at the Make-Out Room, Heyman regularly features like-minded local songwriters performing their songs in a stripped down setting.
Heyman additionally works as a doorman and bartender at the 22nd Street club, a vantage point that has given him a unique perspective on the rash of fires that displaced so many people in the Mission District. He was frequently asked questions by patrons about what happened to the building that burned at 22nd and Mission building several times before eventually being demolished, leaving the gaping hole in the block that is set for a new development (he wrote the "gentrifire" anthem in the above featured video, "The Mission Is On Fire," in response).
During the pandemic, Heyman would shift focus, transforming his Sad Bastard Night into a creatively shot and edited web series on YouTube that gave artists a much-needed outlet to perform as well as a forum to talk about how they were dealing with the shutdown, serving as a sort of therapy session for participants and viewers alike. Heyman also dug into his back catalog, reissuing the 1995 live in the studio recording Go to Blazes...and Other Crimes featuring a mix of originals and eclectic covers from such songwriters as Hank Williams, Jr., Lee Hazelwood, Lou Reed and Gene Clark.
He would also continue composing the tunes that make up his latest effort, 24th Street Blues. A conceptual song cycle that features a more spare, acoustic sound than his last album's more raucous pub-rock approach, Heyman's new material sketches out vivid hard-luck tales of characters he might encounter on his walks to and from work in the Mission.
Tracked in Portland, OR and San Francisco with musical contributions from multi-instrumentalists Rusty Miller (Cake, Jackpot and many others) and Mike Coykendall (who produced the record and has recorded such luminaries as M. Ward, She and Him, Beth Orton and Bright Eyes), lap-steel guitarist Mike Brenner and harmony vocals from member of the Mother Hips Greg Loiacono, the album features some of Heyman's most affecting and powerfully empathetic songs yet.
Aiming to do something special with this latest collection, Heyman partnered with his wife -- artist and teacher Deirdre F. White -- to create a 60-page songbook that features lyrics, music notation and guitar tabs along with paintings and drawings by White that correspond to each tune. CDs and vinyl of the album and songbook will be available at this record release celebration held at Heyman's frequent haunt the Make-Out Room early Sunday evening. He will be backed by bassist Maurus Fleischman (Kelley Stoltz), Rusty Miller on guitar and renowned drummer Paul Revelli (Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Chuck Prophet, Joe Louis Walker).
They will be joined by another San Francisco roots music institution, alt-country veterans Tarnation. Started in the early '90s by singer, songwriter and guitarist Paula Frazer, the band earned rave reviews for its debut album I'll Give You Something to Cry About! on lap-steel player Brandan Kearney's label Nuf Sed Records. The notoriety led to a deal with 4AD Records, with Frazer and a new line-up featuring drummer/bassist Michelle Cernuto, guitarist Lincoln Allen and lap-steel guitarist Matt Sullivan recorded their breakthrough effort Gentle Creatures in 1995.
Spotlighting Frazer's soaring vocals over the band's shimmering, atmospheric music, the recording became a cult alt-country classic. While the line-up would split shortly after its release, leaving the singer to assemble a new band for the subsequent album Mirador which came out in 1997. That version of the band also split, as Frazer found new collaborators to tour with before putting the Tarnation name to bed for a time the following year.
She would initially record under her own name, but Frazer eventually revived Tarnation in 2007 for the album Now It's Time for Birdman Records. The band's current line-up features singer-songwriter and guitarist Jacob Aranda, Sam Berman on drums, and David Cuetter on pedal steel, Patrick Main on keys and vocals and Meryl Press on vocals and percussion.
Tom Heyman Record Release Party with Tarnation
Sunday, Oct. 8, 7 p.m. $15
The Make-Out Room