A variety of short biographical sketches written for various occasions.
Tom Rule has over 30 year’s experience in the music industry ranging across multiple genres and roles. He has released five albums, has credits on over a dozen others, and co-produced MIXTURE with Joey Stuckey. Tom’s career has taken him throughout the Southeast and boasts heavy influences from jazz, bebop, classical, and rock brought together into his music. He currently lives in Macon, GA, where he is the Director of Technology at Mount de Sales Academy, is staff keyboardist at First Presbyterian Church, and teaches piano at Young America Music School.
For more information or to listen to previous albums, visit tomrule.info.
Tom Rule has crammed in more performing in more styles and has more stories than anyone his age has a right to expect! He is a multi-keyboardist specializing in nothing-in-particular, and although this flies in the face of conventional music career advice, he has made it work because he is no ordinary duck.
Also known as the MacMusicGuy, Tom is an award-winning musician & keyboardist who has been involved with the Macon and Middle Georgia music scene since 1990. He is a teacher, performer, arranger, music director, studio musician, sound designer, and audio editor.
He is also left-handed, and is living proof God has a sense of humor.
Aside from the multi-keyboard solo album Accessible Depth, Tom also arranged, performed, and produced the two albums by the band tom&co [Brethren and Seasons]. Seasons received some airplay in Australia and on the RadioIO-Jazz online station. He has credits in some capacity on well over a dozen albums, and has recently been working with Joey Stuckey as co-writer on Joey’s new album MIXTURE.
Tom has been an active performer most of his career. Since moving to the Middle Georgia area he has played with the Joey Stuckey band, the Grapevine, the Bob Huellemeir Big Band, GACabaret with Dr. Martha Malone, an assortment of combo and solo situations, AND has accompanied numerous voice recitals – including two by mezzo-soprano Rebecca Lanning. He is a founding member of the Mosely Dixon Project and played with Northway Church for 18 years. He is currently the staff pianist at First Presbyterian in Macon, plays keyboards in the band for Gary Lamb Ministries, and is the accompanist for the Macon State College Chamber Singers.
Tom also teaches piano at Young America Music School and for the Macon State College Music department.
Tom has been an ASCAP writer since before the turn of the century, but he is not nearly as old as that makes him sound.
To contact Tom, swing over to http://macmusicguy.com/contact-us and send him a note!
For even more info:
http://www.tomrule.info – the info hub for all things Tom
http://www.tomrule.info/depth – details for Accessible Depth
http://www.MacMusicGuy.com – more music by Tom, including charts and sheet music
http://TomRule.info/news/ – the latest news and updates
http://JoeyStuckey.blogspot.com – behind-the-song videos about the new Joey Stuckey album. Great music, Bad puns.
http://www.tom-and-co.com – fun for your feet and bodacious for your brain!
http://www.MoselyDixonProject.com – the Mosely Dixon Project, a three-person quartet!
http://GaCabaret.blogspot.com – Not your average Cabaret act!
Tom Rule is a multi-keyboardist hailing from the Middle Georgia area specializing in nothing-in-particular. Although this flies in the face of conventional music career advice, he has made it work because he is no ordinary duck.
Most of his solo material is keyboard-based, which again flies in the face of today’s guitar-saturated music. His goal is to create music that can withstand multiple listens and still be interesting, What style does he write in? Ummmmmmm… gee, sorry, you’ll have to take a listen for yourself. About all you can say is it isn’t urban, and it isn’t boring.
Tom has worked on several albums as keyboardist and/or arranger, including two albums by his band Tom&Co – see tom-and-co.com,
Cathead Dooley – Yours Truly, Cathead Dooley,
Skeebo Knight – Jekyll Island Nights,
The Blessed Blend – Journeys through the Mist,
plus recordings by Joey Stuckey (see his website) and the Bob Huellemeir Orchestra.
Tom also had a hand in the Grammy-nominated audiobook by Ed Grisamore – Gris & That. Tom’s laugh can even be heard on the Bruce Goddard audiobook Live & Kickin’.
Tom’s official site can be seen at www.tomrule.info.
The MacMusicGuy is an award-winning musician & keyboardist who has been involved with the Macon and Middle Georgia music scene since 1990. He is a teacher, performer, arranger, music director, studio musician, sound designer, and audio editor.
He is a talented multi-keyboardist with writing, arranging, recording, and sound design credits in his portfolio. He has credits on over a dozen albums – including music by Cathead Dooley, Skeebo Knight, Joey Stuckey, the Blessed Blend, and tom&co, has done a few jingles, and played for more events in the USA than he cares to count.
Tom also teaches piano at YAMS and for the Macon State College music department. He is a founding member of the Mosely Dixon Project and played with Northway Church for 18 years. He is currently the staff pianist at First Presbyterian in Macon and plays keyboards in the band for Gary Lamb Ministries.
Tom has been an ASCAP writer since the turn of the century, but he is not as old as that makes him sound.
Tom is available for piano and music theory lessons, performances and studio work. Click on the links to the right for more information, or contact Tom right now!
…and don’t forget to check out Accessible Depth and sign up for the newsletter!
Tom Rule has crammed in more performing in more styles and has more stories than anyone his age has a right to expect!
He also has the skills to match those wildly varying interests. He has performed all over the Eastern U.S.A. with various groups. Most recently, he has concentrated on things closer to home (Macon, Georgia), performing with groups as diverse as the Joey Stuckey Band, Grapevine, The Bob Huellemeir Big Band, the Macon State College Singers, and his own band Tom & Co.
Tom’s last album, “Seasons” was recorded with Tom & Co. Like the CD cover says, this is “instrumental music that is fun for your feet and bodacious for your brain.” The band specializes in arrangements of traditional church tunes like “Silent Night,” “At The Cross,” “Gentle Mary Laid Her Child,” “We Three Kings,” and others. The complete track list is available at www.tom-and-co.com/tracklist.html.
“The hope is,” Tom said recently, “that the sounds and arrangements will catch the ear, and bring back to mind the original lyrics. You don’t have to know the original tunes to enjoy this album, but it does add an extra dimension to enjoyment!” Take a listen to the smoky jazz club feel of “I Surrender All,” the new-age-crosses-contemporary version of “O Come, Let Us Adore Him,” or the intimate inside-the-piano version of “At The Cross” – complete with chords and harmonies you just aren’t going to hear in most churches (or on radio, for that matter)
The real sonic treat though, is “We Three Kings” – think Renaissance Band at the King’s Court, a pipe organ in a smoke-filled darkly-lit jazz club, some seriously kickin’ grooves and surprising solos from sax and piano. It’s a great package just filled with ear candy, worthy of multiple listens. “We Three Kings” was inspired by the California Raisins (!) Tom explained in a recent interview that “The Claymation Christmas” special from several years ago has this really cool version of “Three Kings.” The “Kings” sang the verses in an operatic style and the camels interrupted them with this swing version of the chorus. It inspired this arrangement of the tune, which I’ve always loved.”
There’s also a puzzle on the cover! For details, check out the band’s website at www.tom-and-co.com.
Tom Rule has been bouncing around Georgia for longer than he cares to disclose. He studied piano with Earl Miller at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (where he won the statewide Collegiate Division MTNA piano competition), and with John WIlliams and Ray Dudley at the University of South Carolina, as well as jazz piano with John Emche at USC.
After earning his Masters in Piano Performance from USC Tom landed in Macon with his wife and family in 1990 as head of the music department at Macon State College. Tom has music directed 11 musicals and lived to tell about it, written/arranged/performed and produced 2 albums with his band tom&co, and serves as musical director/accompanist for singers such as Martha Malone and Rebecca Lanning.
From 2003-2013 he was a freelance educator, musician, multi-keyboardist, studio musician (with 15 album credits), writer, arranger, sound designer, and even computer guru. Among his several jobs at the moment are accompanist for the Macon State Chamber Singers, keyboardist and sound designer for the Northway Church band, Piano instructor at Macon State College and Young America Music School, Computer Science instructor at Mercer University, Computer tech for Shadowsound studios, founder of MidGaHosting.com – plus miscellaneous other projects, most involving the internet and/or music. He was selected to be one of the four pianists accompanying a slew of Mercer singers at the Georgia NATS auditions held in in Rome, GA in 2012.
In 2013 Tom took a fulltime “gig” as part of the tech team at Mount de Sales Academy in Macon – but he still performs and teaches regularly at Young America Music Schools, First Presbyterian Church, and assorted other locales around the state.
Tom is one half of GA Cabaret, one third of the Mosely Dixon Project, and one fifth of the Joey Stuckey Band. According to Tom, “I’m a typical musician, an odd duck, and an ardent lefty.”