Click here for details!

T O M   B A L L

Born in Los Angeles on Sonny Terry's birthday (October 24,) Tom began playing guitar at the age of eleven and took up harmonica two years later.  A teenage member of the Yerba Buena Blues Band in the mid-1960's, he played Love-Ins and Sunset Strip nightclubs before leaving the country for most of the '70s.  In 1978 he came back to the U.S. and teamed up with guitarist Kenny Sultan - a partnership that still flourishes today and has resulted in eight duo CDs (most with Flying Fish/Rounder,) and literally thousands of concerts and festivals all over the world.

In addition to working with Kenny, Tom has played on nearly 200 CDs, performed and sung on countless film soundtracks, TV shows and commercials, recorded three solo guitar CDs, written five instructional books and authored a couple of novels.

Photo by Ben Elder

The Tom Ball & Kenny Sultan duo has appeared on television internationally, played for audiences of 300 million via Voice Of America, were featured on the Levi's 501 Blues commercials and are frequent guests of National Public Radio.  Their music from the film Over The Edge won them the prestigious Telly Award in 1994, and they were the only musical act in America to play all four venues of the 1984 Olympic Games. 

Mark Mosrie photo.   (Old pic - Tom doesn't look this good anymore.)

Tom's most recent studio projects include playing with Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band on the soundtrack to the film "Hoot," and with Kenny Loggins on his latest CD, "How About Now."  It's not hard to see why Tom has been on the cover of both American Harmonica Newsmagazine and Harmonica World, why Blues Revue called his playing "stupendous," and why Sound Choice magazine wrote, "The best acoustic blues act going, bar none!"  Meanwhile he has carved out a secondary career as a solo guitarist and "kills time" writing both music books and fiction.

Currently Tom resides in Santa Barbara with his artist wife Laurie, two antique cats and 1000s of 78 RPM records. His daughter Shay is a renowned singer and model residing in NYC.  For more info, a complete discography and links, please feel free to peruse this website. And if you'd like to get ahold of Tom personally, you can write or Email:

                                           
      Tom Ball
      POB 20156
      Santa Barbara CA                                   
      93120  USA

 Click here and here

photo (below) by Kimberly Clark Citro

© 2006-2007 T.B.

member - American Federation of Musicians (A F of M) Local 308
member - American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (AFTRA) SF Chapter
member - National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) LA Chapter
member - Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) LA chapter
member - Society for the Preservation & Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH)
co-proprietor - Good Time Blues Publishing (administered by BUG Music, BMI)

To hear samples from Tom's latest CD 'Solo Guitar - Music From Films,' click here.

next page (off-site:) with Kenny Sultan
next page (on-site:) harmonica player