Album Notes

In over 400 campus concerts, Tom Acousti's uncensored songwriting, and passionate performances have become a favorite of college students coast to coast.

Although Acousti is best known in the college circuit as a coffeehouse performer, he has easily moved to the big stage. With piano and guitar at hand, Acousti pulls audiences onto an emotional roller coaster of self-examination. It's a show that ranges from disturbing to tearfully funny. Her performance speaks of the challenges facing young people in today's pop culture. The grass roots of Tom's concerts have made him one of the most sought after acts of the campus stage.

But where did all this come from? Well, in 1989 Acousti released his debut LP entitled "Process of Elimination" on Harbor Records. The sounds of that album and his live solo performances quickly led him to his first college tour in 1990.

While performing at a club in New York City, Acousti was spotted by a Broadway producer. Subsequently, he landed a role as "Nick Piazza" in the pre-Broadway musical "FAME," and performed over 60 shows at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, Florida. It was during that break from concert performing that Acousti wrote some of his best and most lyrical works. Songs like "On the Radio," and "Can I Believe" were eventually recorded for Acousti's second album, "Only - Welcome to Reality" (Harbor Records). In order to capture the energy of his live solo performances, "Only" was recorded live in the studio using nothing but voice, a Martin guitar and a Steinway piano. His 1991-92 tour in support of the album included more that 100 campus concerts.

1992 marked the birth of Acousti's four-piece concert band, "The Happy Bus." Sounds of "The Happy Bus" ranged from pure acoustic to cathartic rock-n-roll. During the following 18 months, the "Bus" performed two east coast tours, released a live bootleg mix ("Express"), and produced a live concert video at Carnegie Melon University.

After viewing the Carnegie Melon video, Star Search producers gave Acousti a slot on the '94 season. Tom appeared, performing all original works. In a winning streak that resulted in 7 performances, Tom broke the "male vocalist" record for "wins with original music." Acousti was also the first contestant ever to present a song using only an acoustic guitar (no backing tracks).

Acousti moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1997 and shortly after started working on a new album. In August of 1998, Tom received a call from a woman he'd never met by the name of Debbie Hobson. Ms. Hobson's husband, Sgt. Kenneth R. Hobson II, had just been killed in the terrorist bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.

Debbie had purchased Tom's "Only" album, years earlier at a college concert and some of the music from that CD had been special to the couple's union. Ms. Hobson was calling to ask if Tom could come to Lamar, MO and perform Tom's song "Still Stand" from the album, the song that she and her husband had come to think of as "their song."

In addition to instantly agreeing to her request, in the days preceding the memorial, Tom wrote "Bloom Where You're Planted," (written from the Hobson's 2 year old daughter's perspective) as a gift for the mourning family. Tom performed the song for the first time at Sgt. Hobson's memorial service.

"Bloom," eventually became the title song of Tom's latest album. "Bloom - Everything is Everything" was released nationally in late 2001 (Sweet Cicada Pi Music).