Join us in Crossroads for an afternoon of performance and learning!
Tom Neilson brings decades of local and global experiences to the App State campus in order to demonstrate how folk music/art can serve as a medium to create change. Tom’s music exemplifies the power of performance art for teaching cultural and social history and environmental issues like climate change.
In addition, Tom demonstrates how tying songwriting to expressive arts (writing, theatre, dance, music) provides a tool students can use to contribute to climate solutions by way of effective and engaging communication strategies.
Tom provides a voice for those who believe in the power of folk music to effect change. His award-winning songs of humor and compassion have been performed in 22 countries on 5 continents. His lyrics are celebrated for sophistication, political astuteness and comic wit.
His travels are reflected in his songs, intertwined with farm roots and a fervent commitment to social justice, as he writes about historical and current events. He has been at the forefront in helping communities organize against water privatization, mountaintop removal, nuclear energy, incinerators, GMOs, fracking and toxic waste.
Known locally in Massachusetts as the Bard Insurgent, Tom is a veteran of stage and street theater with his writing, acting and directing. His songs draw the listener into his musical response to globalization. Learn more about Tom Neilson’s music and biography here tomneilsonmusic.com.
“It’s a folk singer’s job to comfort disturbed people and to disturb comfortable people.” Woody Guthrie