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Tom Breiding

Born: Wheeling, West Virgina

Resides: Pittsburgh, PA

Website:

The Musician

While certain artists achieve widespread notoriety, other musicians direct their skills toward more selective audiences and gain a good deal of respect along the way. Tom Breiding has been honing his singing, guitar playing and songwriting talents since the early 80's, from his hometown of Wheeling W.Va., to his current residence in Pittsburgh, and points in between. One of Western PA's most diverse, prolific, and longest-serving entertainers, he's played in working bands for twenty-five years continuously, served on the staff of a major Nashville publishing company, and has released seven of his own albums since 1991. Tom has carved a niche as a chronicler of small-town America. His songs are poignant and affecting, and he delivers them with total conviction. In Hard Rain, with Bill Toms and the rest of the Houserocker family, Breiding is emerging as one Pittsburgh's more colorful guitar players, as well. His weekly solo performances in Pittsburgh's Strip District, his role as Bill Tom's sideman, and his original projects with American Son are testimony to the perseverance and commitment that Breiding has long dedicated to his work.

The Performer

Voted Pittsburgh's Best Acoustic Performer of 2000 at citysearch.com, Tom was asked to fill more opening spots than any other artist at Rosebud, once one of Pittsburgh's premier live venues. His diverse original material found favor with audiences of Hal Ketchum and Johnny Paycheck to that of Freedy Johnson and Allison Moorer. His extensive experience as a performer includes several sold out shows broadcast to national radio audiences at Jamboree USA in West Virginia, performances in the round and featured writer nights at the famed Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, and yearly performances at the beautiful Oglebay Park Amphitheater in Wheeling. Tom has appeared on countless television and radio programs and continues to perform regularly in clubs and at festivals throughout the Pittsburgh region. Tom became full time guitarist in Bill Toms' band, Hard Rain, in 2002.

The Songwriter

Breiding was a staff writer for Tom Collins at Collins Music Corporation, on Nashville's storied Music Row in 1991. At that time, Tom Collins, a former CMA Producer of the Year, was the largest independent publisher in Country Music and had been responsible for launching the careers of Barbara Mandrell and Ronnie Milsap. This exclusive publishing deal brought Breiding the opportunity to collaborate and form lasting relationships with several hit writers, artists, and publishers while developing his own craft. The resulting catalog of material was purchased by Acuff Rose/Opryland Music in November 1999, and later by Sony/ATV in 2002.

The Artist

Tom is currently recording his first self produced album at the new AmeriSon Studio. Recorded entirely with American Son, it will be the first "band" record to carry the Tom Breiding name. Tom's partnership with Jamie Peck of Long Vue Digital in Wheeling resulted in six independent releases: 1992's Railroad Town and 1997's The Next Heartache, 1998's regionally acclaimed Guitar and Pen, 2000's Happy Hour in the Round Hotel, 2001's American Son, a record dedicated to the region's depressed steel towns, 2004's Two Tone Chevrolet, and 2005's Guitar and Pen Volume II. In 2001, Joe Grushecky chose a Tom Breiding ballad, A Picture of Him, to be included on his Best of the 'Burgh CD. Tom co-wrote a song and played guitar on all the tracks on Bill Toms and Hard Rain's The West End Kid released in October of 2005.