Tom Breiding

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Tom Breiding is an artist, songwriter, and producer residing near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, not far from his hometown of Wheeling, West Virginia.^[1] Tom is actively involved with the United Mine Workers of America, providing the union with music for the Fairness at Patriot campaign in 2013–14, the Centennial Commemoration of the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado in 2014, the inauguration of its officers in 2014, the 2015 Constitutional Convention in Las Vegas, in 2016 on Capitol Hill in front of 10,000 union members to petition the U.S. Government to keep the promise (http://umwa.org/news-media/journal/the-promise-of-1946/) of cradle to grave health care for America's coal miners, and recently in front of thousands in support of 1,100 striking Warrior Met coal miners in Brookwood, Alabama (https://inthesetimes.com/article/at-a-massive-union-rally-the-promise-of-a-better-south). Much of Tom's work with the UMWA is documented in his 2015 album and film release River, Rails or Road. He has served as a Commonwealth Speaker for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and a teaching artist for Gateway to the Arts in Pittsburgh.

Performances[]

Since the release of "The Unbroken Circle: Songs of the West Virginia Coalfields" in 2008, Tom has performed in hundreds of venues throughout North America and as far away as Italy. His extensive experience as a performer includes several sold-out shows broadcast to national radio audiences at Jamboree USA in West Virginia, performances in the round and featured writer nights at the famed Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, and yearly performances at the beautiful Oglebay Park Amphitheater in Wheeling and Jamboree in the Hills, St. Clairsville, Ohio, to audiences as large as 80,000. For the past six consecutive years, Tom has performed at the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah, Oklahoma, birthplace of the American icon.

Tom has appeared on countless television and radio programs including "Humanities on the Road" on PCN (Pennsylvania Cable Network) which reaches three-million households. Tom's performance of "Steeltowns, Coalfields, and The Unbroken Circle" earned the Pennsylvania Humanities Council a Tele Award. Tom continues to perform regularly in clubs and at festivals throughout the Pittsburgh region, and he tours between the dozens of service trips to Appalachia he coordinates for Wheeling University's Appalachian Institute. Tom performs for hundreds of visiting college and high school students each year from around the U.S. as part of the programming for these service/learning trips. Tom has also been the full-time guitarist in Bill Toms' band, Hard Rain from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, since 2002.

Songwriter[]

Breiding was a staff writer for Tom Collins at Collins Music Corporation, on Nashville's storied Music Row in 1991. At that time, Tom Collins, a former CMA Producer of the Year, was the largest independent publisher in Country Music and had been responsible for launching the careers of Barbara Mandrell and Ronnie Milsap. This exclusive publishing deal brought Breiding the opportunity to collaborate and form lasting relationships with several hit writers, artists, and publishers while developing his own craft. The resulting catalog of material was purchased by Acuff Rose/Opryland Music in November 1999, and later by Sony/ATV in 2002.

In 2008 Breiding was recruited by Calliope (Pittsburgh's Folk Society) to write songs for "When We Shine," a compilation CD to celebrate Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary. Tom contributed to 8 of its 15 tracks.

Since 2013, Tom has been providing songs to the United Mine Workers of America for specific campaigns and events including the Fairness at Patriot campaign to retain pensions and benefits for retirees, the centennial commemoration of the famed Ludlow Massacre in Colorado, and the Mine Workers inauguration of its officers.

Recordings[]

Tom has released fourteen albums under his own name in the past 23 years beginning with his 1992 release Railroad Town. He has also provided guitar or vocal tracks for more than a dozen album projects by other artists including several records with fellow Pittsburgh artist Bill Toms.

His most successful release is The Unbroken Circle: Songs of the West Virginia Coalfields which spent 16 weeks in the top 100 of the Americana charts, reaching as high as #55. The album was endorsed by country music legend Tom T. Hall and Grammy Award-winning songwriter Tim O'Brien. It received over three thousand reported spins on American radio stations, made Robert Christgau's Consumer Guide (Dean of American Rock Critics), and received highly favorable reviews from several national publications including New York Times and 'Sing Out Magazine. Songs from this album can still be heard regularly at union rallies sponsored by the UMWA.

Songs from Tom's 2011 release Beauty in Paradise were featured for seven consecutive weeks on Echoes, a syndicated radio program broadcast on more than 500 public radio stations across America.

Collaborations[]

In 2008, Tom worked with contemporary Pittsburgh artist Rick Malis on When We Shine. The project was funded by a regional asset grant (RAD) to Calliope, Pittsburgh's Folk Society, to celebrate the city's 250th anniversary. Tom and Rick conducted writing seminars with student songwriters and collaborated on all of the album's 15 tracks. When We Shine was produced and engineered by Tom at AmeriSon Studio in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

Discography[]

• Railroad Town (1992)
• The Next Heartache (1997)
• Guitar and Pen (1998)
• Happy Hour in the Round Hotel (2000)
• American Son (2001)
• Two Tone Chevrolet (2004)
• Guitar and Pen Volume II (2005)
• Time to Roll (2006 AmeriSon Records)
• The Unbroken Circle (2007 AmeriSon Records)
• Beauty in Paradise (2011 AmeriSon Records)
• Fairness at Patriot (2013)
• Live at the Leaf and Bean: Bootleg (2014)
• River, Rails or Road – Album and Film (2015)
• Love Commits Me Here (2019)

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Tom Breiding's Railroad Town