Tom McFarland passed away on the morning of September 3rd, 2004 at his home near Salt Lake City. He was 59 years old. He is survived by his wife, Sue, daughter, Naomi, and son Tom. Please join us in our grief as we say goodbye to a bluesman, friend and inspiration.
Tom McFarland played the blues ever since he fell in love with the sound in the sixties. You can hear years of nightclub dates in that voice and the way he fingerpicked the guitar. Although he did record an album on Arhoolie in 1977, his very best work was saved for the two albums he recorded on the Flying Heart label. (Take a look at the Flying Heart Catalogue ) He certainly had what one might call a distinctive and personal style. If you have trouble getting his CDs from amazon, you can always mail order them from the Flying Heart Label. But Voodoo Garden is getting really hard to find anywhere.
Tom had a nomadic lifestyle in his last decade, residing in Vancouver, Portland, Tacoma, Auburn, Jackson, Terre Haute, Spokane and Salt Lake City. He had several of his songs covered by other artists. His song Voodoo Garden is on Charlie Musselwhite's Grammy-nominated Virgin Records CD, Continental Drifter. Tom's beautiful ballad, Blue Reverie, was recorded on Biograph Records by Kathy Hart, and also by the Island Jazz Quintet (out of Vashon Island, near Seattle) on their 2006 CD, WHo Knows . And Margo Tufo recorded a cover of Just Got in from Portland on her "Live at the Candlelight" CD.
updated April 22nd, 2007 by Jan Chciuk-Celt