Folk’s New Voice – Tomos Newman
Tomos Newman at Tenby Blues Festival ©Nigel Summerley
When I first heard Tomos Newman singing and playing guitar – at this year’s Boia Festival in St Davids – I was reminded of the late and legendary John Martyn.
But when I finally got to sit down and talk with Tomos, just before his appearance at the Tenby Blues Festival, I was hesitant about mentioning Martyn – since I wasn’t sure that someone aged 19 and just starting to make an impact with his music would even know who Martyn was.
I needn’t have worried. Tomos cited Martyn as one of his main influences – along with Bob Dylan (who had, of course, been an inspiration to John Martyn) and contemporary singer/songwriter Ben Howard.
Originally from Pembroke Dock, Tomos moved at the age of 16 to Martletwy, where his family started working on a smallholding. By then he was heavily into music, having been captivated by seeing Cardiff-based folk band Under The Driftwood Tree when he was just six or seven.
“I started playing the guitar and having lessons when I was seven and started singing when I was 10,” he said. From then on, he was listening to as much music as possible and soaking it all up.
The move to Martletwy landed him in a very different environment where he has found “so much inspiration from the countryside”.
He describes what he does as “folk” but his music has much more to it than that label might suggest. There is a soft, pastoral quality to his songs but also sometimes quite a gutsy, bluesy feeling to his singing.
He put out his first album last year, recorded at StudiOwz in Clarbeston Road, and he’s in the process of releasing a new EP very soon. Some appetisers from the EP have already appeared, notably Chain Of Daisies, a song that combines his wistful approach (“I like to write chilled pieces”) with some climactic mass-instrumentation dynamics. The video for the song, filmed on the coast near West Dale, has had thousands of views on Tomos’s YouTube channel.
He’s been doing live gigs solo but is also looking at putting a band together. “And I have a lot of new material since recording the EP,” he said. “So perhaps I will be recording another album and another EP in 2025.”
Other plans include breaking into the music scene in Cardiff and maybe Bristol, and he hopes at some point to go on tour. “That,” said Tomos, “has always been the dream.”
At the Boia Festival, St Davids ©Nigel Summerley
