Tom McFarland born 30 January 1945

Tom McFarland (January 30, 1945 - September 3, 2004) was a well-traveled blues shouter, guitar player and composer who placed a vital role in reviving Seattle’s blues scene in the 1970s. 

McFarland was born in Los Angeles, California but spent much of his youth in the tiny rural community of Sunny Valley, Oregon, where his father worked as a logger. His entire family was musical, including his cousin, the late jazz great, Gary McFarland. At ten he began playing guitar and by age 12 was intently listening to the records of Gene Vincent and Elvis Presley, but a brief stay in Los Angeles while attending junior high school resulted in visits to Watts which changed his outlook towards life and music completely. Not long after that he discovered the music of B.B. King, which crystallized his musical ambitions. 

"B.B. answered all my questions. I knew I was meant to do something musically, but I didn't know what that was until l heard him." This discovery led to other guitarists, such as T-Bone Walker, Freddie King, Scotty Moore, Barney Kessel, Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, and Kenny Burrell, all of whom have influenced McFarland's musical style. Out of this came the first of many groups, including a stint in 1962 with an authentic R&B band, followed by a hitch in the Army, which resulted in some performances around Europe. 

In 1966 he moved to Portland, where he formed the first of his many bands there and a long residency at the White Eagle, a bar where he developed a loyal following and more than a handful of newspaper clippings to prove However, by 1973, Portland's Vision had quite understandably become much too myopic for McFarland and he decided to move to Seattle. 

If Portland was a big town, then Seattle was a big city with a large port and a booming aircraft industry. Seattle also had a history of some blues activity with the former Oakland blues pianist George Hurst, and for a brief while, Sonny Rhodes. Albert Collins was and remains a frequent visitor and there were others, locals like Isaac Scott and L.V Parr. 

                    Here’s "Goin' Back To Oakland" from above album.

                                  

Scott and McFarland became close friends, and Scott, who recently recorded his first album for Red Lightning Records, paid homage to McFarland by recording his "Goin' Back To Oakland". Parr, a former guitarist with the Johnny Ace Band, had a great influence on McFarland's playing. If anything, Seattle seemed to mature and strengthen McFarland's commitment to the blues. 

Now with the release of this album, Tom McFarland appeared to have finally completed some of those long awaited goals. He certainly has captured the attention of the Bay Area music scene in two years with his superb performances both in the clubs like the Coffee Gallery and at concerts like the 1977 San Francisco Blues Festival, and while his memorable West Coast tour with Chicago great Otis Rush has garnered him some rave notices, it also established him as an outstanding new blues discovery. 

He eventually recorded his signature tune “Going Back to Oakland” on the album “Just Got In From Portland” in 1987. He later lived in Tacoma; Vancouver, Wash., Clinton, Miss.; Terre Haute, Ind.; Spokane, and the Salt Lake City area, playing in all the clubs and bars. In 1990, he released his biggest album yet, “Voodoo Garden” on Flying Heart Records. 

He had been unable to play for five years because of health problems, including an enlarged heart, and had a stroke six months before he died on September 3, 2004 in his sleep at his home in West Valley, Utah. He was 59 years old. 

(Edited from Sleevenotes, The Spokeman, L.A. Times & AllMusic)