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After concluding a summer tour with longtime collaborator Ben Harper and his band the Innocent Criminals, critically hailed singer/songwriter Tom Freund has completed a new album with Ben as producer and featuring such guests as Jackson Browne on piano and vocals. The 30-date summer run provided Tom and Ben the opportunity to rekindle songs from their 1992 Pleasure and Pain album as well as spark ideas for a new studio record. This follows Tom's two independent releases of the past 3 years, "Copper Moon" and "Sweet Affection."

LA Weekly recently commented, "While Ben Harper found success with his folkie soul, Tom Freund has looked more to the Tom Waits school of the raspy sing-talk,and after two solid albums on his own Surf Road Records, his Copper Moon is set to get him the recognition he deserves."

A sought-out standup bassist, the talented, versatile Freund plays most of the stringed instruments as well as piano on his albums. He also receives support from some terrific musicians. Matt Johnson (Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright) and Michael Jerome (Richard Thompson, Blind Boys Of Alabama) sharedrum duties and X's D.J. Bonebrake plays the vibes. Ben Peeler (The Wallflowers, Shelby Lynn) provides some astounding electric and acoustic lap steel playing, while renowned producer/arranger Jerry Yester (Tom Waits) contributes string arrangements. On his debut record, North American Long Weekend Tom scored guest appearances by legendary jazz organist Jimmy Smith and studio virtuoso Jon Brion.

"Sweet Affection" is the title and lead off track on Tom Freund's latest EP/CD, which encompasses three new songs from the studio along witha live set recorded at a Sweet Relief Benefitin Santa Monica, California. 50% of the proceeds go to Sweet Relief: A Musicians Fund, started by Victoria Williams a decade ago. On the cd, she sings on two songs, "Gentleman Of The Shade" and the stirring "Can't Cry Hard Enough", the latter was captured live via cellphone with Victoria who had fallen ill and could not attend the concert listed on the album as a "cellular duet." She called Tom's soundtrack oriented EP: LA Fundamentalist Music,"a classic." Tom's talents have also been drafted by Brit rocker Graham Parker, both as an opener and a musical director on tour and in the studio.

Freund spent the mid-'90s touring with the indie rock cult faves The Silos. In 1998, he released his debut album North American Long Weekendon Red Ant/Mercury. The record received an avalanche of critical accolades, most notably in The New York Times in which Ann Powerscalled it an "unexpected gem" and ranked it ..3 in her year-end best-of poll. 2001's Sympatico drew even more raves. No Depression proclaimed that Freund "captures slices of Americana in a way that many attempt, yet very few actually master." Freund also is a favorite of NPR's Weekend Editionand has been championed by Los Angeles' powerful KCRW-FM, where he performed live on Morning Becomes Eclectic.

Tom writes all his own material and his songs continue to be featured on such prime time TV shows as "Las Vegas," "One Tree Hill" and "October Road" as well as such films as "Charlie Bartlett," "Me and Will" and "12 Bucks." Steven Spielberg's SHOAH Foundation also used three of Tom's compositions for their Giving Voice video. In 2001, he won a Telly Award for the music behind a National Public Service Announcement concerning child abuse. He continues to tour North America and Europe playing with his band or doing solo shows.
For More Information go to: WWW.TOMFREUND.COM and WWW.MYSPACE.COM/TOMFREUNDMUSIC

QUOTES:

"Every year the mounting landfill of new releases that threatens to bury the working music journalists yields a few unexpected gems, and Tom Freund is one of them." - THE NEW YORK TIMES

"A fitting soundtrack to 'On the Road': Gorgeous wide-open spacious scenes, explorations of the young heartand quests from personal truth unfold in its literate, rootsy songs." -NEW YORK POST

"Freund clearly delights in enigma. His vocals could go from laconic to impassioned without such obvious trickery as cranking up the volume. His lyrics are full of curveballs." - WASHINGTON POST

"Journeyman Freund is soundtrack ready. He made an album that is all at once addictive, stylistically diverse and honest to the core." -MSNBC

"An organic collection of songs and stories, breathing with an acoustic richness and lyrics that capture slices of Americana in a way that many attempt, yet very few actually master." - NO DEPRESSION

"If Tom Petty and Nick Drake had a love child." - BLOGCRITICS.COM

"Tom Freund is indeed one of the great singer-songwriters. He constructs a unique world, defines it, and then burns it to the ground. Truly unique and absolutely brilliant." - ALL MUSIC GUIDE

"I get shivers down my spine on almost every tune. Along with Lucinda Williams, Freund is the best singer/songwriter operating today." - GRAHAM PARKER

** GET ON TOM'S EMAIL LIST: e-mail:tom@tomfreund.com and tell him what city you are in