Tommy McLain born 15 March 1940

Tommy McLain (March 15, 1940 – July 24, 2025) was an American musician, best known as a singer but who also played keyboards, drums, bass guitar, and fiddle.

Thomas Murray McLain was born in Jonesville, Louisiana. He began playing guitar when he was five years old, and would in time add keyboards, drums, bass, and fiddle to his repertoire. When the upbeat sounds of rock & roll began to take root in New Orleans thanks to artists like Fats Domino and Little Richard, McLain became an immediate fan, and he got his start as a performer in Red Smiley's group the Vel-Tones, alongside country singer turned fellow swamp pop legend Clint West. In the early '60s, McLain followed West into the Boogie Kings, local legends in Louisiana, and the association helped him land booking on Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars tours. McLain made his recording debut in 1964 with Clint West & the Boogie Kings on the single "Mr. Jeweler (I Won't Be Needing the Ring)" b/w "Try to Find Another Man." (McLain also landed a job as a radio DJ on KREH in Oakdale, Louisiana.)

 His first solo effort, "You Wouldn't Know a Love If You Had One" b/w "If You Would Be True," was released by the small MSL label in 1966 (McLain co-wrote the B-side), and a few months later, the same label brought out his cover of "Sweet Dreams." (Once again, one of McLain's tunes, "I Need You So," was on the flipside.) The song took off in Louisiana and followed suit in the rest of the United States, in time rising to number 15 on the national singles charts, higher than Don Williams or Patsy Cline fared with their versions on the pop survey.

                                    

Despite the success of "Sweet Dreams" (which went on to sell three million copies), McLain and MSL were not able to come up with another nationwide hit, though he would have regional success with "Before I Grow Too Old," "I Need You So," "Try to Find Another Man," and "No Tomorrows Now." McLain continued to record occasionally, and performed regularly with his group the Mule Train Band; he and the group made a brief appearance in the 1975 Paul Newman vehicle The Drowning Pool. By his own admission, as his career was almost entirely dominated by live work in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi, he developed a dangerous appetite for alcohol and drugs. He experienced a spiritual rebirth, and credited his new faith with helping him turn his back on his bad habits. 

In 1973, Charlie Gillett, a British writer and radio host, compiled an album of classic swamp pop tracks, Another Saturday Night: Classic Recordings from the Louisiana Bayous, which featured several McLain numbers, including "Before I Grow Too Old," and the album developed a powerful reputation among U.K. music fans, and both Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe became McLain followers after discovering the disc, later getting to know the man personally. (Another British fan was Lily Allen, who not only cited "Before I Grow Too Old" as one of her eight favourite songs on the BBC Radio 4 program Desert Island Discs, but hired McLain and his band to perform the song at her wedding in 2011.)

The Louisiana guitarist, songwriter, and producer C.C. Adcock, whose father was a Tommy McLain fan after seeing him play with the Boogie Kings in the 1960s -- became friends with McLain in the 1990s, and included him in his ad hoc band of Louisiana legends, Lil' Band O' Gold, who cut a pair of albums in 2000 and 2010. Adcock encouraged McLain to focus on song writing, and as he was growing tired of his usual gigs in clubs and casinos, he was eager to explore new options. In October 2007, McLain was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. In 2019, an A&R rep from Decca Records heard rough demos of McLain's new songs during a meeting at the South by Southwest Conference, and declared the label's interest in a new Tommy McLain album. Both Costello and Lowe were eager to write songs with McLain, and the former offered to sing on the recording sessions.

 A variety of calamities interfered with the progress of the project as an arsonist burned down McLain's home, he suffered a life-threatening heart attack that required cardiac surgery, and the COVID-19 pandemic forced McLain and Adcock to put the sessions on hold for nearly a year. In time, the album was completed, and while Decca opted not to release it, the American roots music label Yep Roc stepped in to bring it out. Featuring instrumental contributions from Van Dyke Parks, Ivan Neville, swamp pop star Warren Storm, Willie Nelson harmonica master Mickey Raphael, and Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados keyboard player Augie Meyers, I Ran Down Every Dream was released in August 2022. McLain supported the release with a number of live dates, including an appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, several dates opening for Lucinda Williams, and a tour with Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets.

On August 26, 2022, McLain released his first album in over 40 years, entitled I Ran Down Every Dream. This collaboration included 11 songs written by McLain and credits with numerous others including Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe (both of whom contribute co-writes), plus Jon Cleary, Denny Freeman, Ed Harcourt, Roy Lowe, Augie Meyers, Ivan Neville, Van Dyke Parks, Mickey Raphael, Steve Riley, Speedy Sparks, Warren Storm and others. In 2023, McLain began work on a gospel album that would share his deeply held spiritual beliefs within the context of swamp pop. The long-gestating project finally saw the light of day with the release of 2024's Moving to Heaven, with McLain playing all the instruments himself and production assistance from his long-time partner Carol Skaggs. It proved to be his last major project -- Tommy McLain died in a nursing facility in Hessmer, Louisiana on July 24, 2025, at the age of 85.

(Edited from AllMusic & Wikipedia)