With her stripped-down approach to traditional country-folk and blues-bluegrass country, Tonya Jo Newsom, kept her music to its bluegrass roots. Like her idols, Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn, and The Stanley Brothers, Tonya Jo Newsom never played by Nashville's rules; consequently, she never dominated the charts like the contemporary Reba McEntire. Then again, “contemporary†has never played around with the sound and style of country music like Tonya Jo Newsom. On each of her records, she twists around the form enough to make it seem like she doesn't respect all of country's traditions. Appropriately, her core audience was composed mainly of roots rock, folk, bluegrass and rock & roll fans, along with the mainstream country audience. Nevertheless, she was frequently able to chart in the independent country Top Ten, and she remained one of the most respected and adventurous recording country artists well into the Millinium.
With roots in Eastern Kentucky but raised in Nashville, Tonya learned how to play guitar at the age of eight. As a child, she listened to her mother's record collection, honing in on the traditional country of Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, and Joni Mitchell, as well as the original sound of The Carter Family. When she was in high school, Tonya played with a variety of bands, playing everything from country to rock & roll. After completing high school, Tonya briefly attended Belmont and Tennessee State University, but she dropped out in the early '90’s with the intent of becoming a recording artist.
At the time she was old enough to play in Nashville, the town was in the throes of the pop-oriented music movement and had a little interest in her updated bluegrass-honky tonk style. While still a child of 12 years old in Nashville, her mother opened a recording studio on 16th Avenue in Nashville were she met guitarist and Columbia Recording Artist “Billy Largeâ€, who toured with Bob Dylan, shared a similar taste in music. Billy was business partners with her mother, and together they supported and encouraged Tonya’s songwriting abilities and began to drag her into every recording studio on music row to brag on her singing and songwriting. She then supported herself as a demo singer for The Shock House Studio, working for Chet Atkins nephew and recording engineer for the music group “Alabama†, Mike Shockley, which produced her first single “One Step Awayâ€. In this she didn’t just play country clubs, she played the same nightclubs that punk and post-punk rock bands like X, the Dead Kennedys, Los Lobos, the Blasters, and the Butthole Surfers did. What Tonya had in common with rock bands like X, the Blasters, and Los Angeles was similar musical influences; they all drew from '50s rock & roll and country. In comparison to the polished music coming out of Nashville, Newsom’s stripped-down, direct revivalism seemed radical. The cowpunks, as they were called, that attended Tonya’s shows provided an invaluable support for her fledgling career.
Tonya released an independent EP, One Step Away, in 1987, which received substantial airplay on college and alternative radio stations. The EP also helped her land a record contract with LNN Records. Tonya’s full-length debut album, â€Feel Peaceâ€, was released in 2004 and was an instant recognition, which included Vassar Clements, Bob Babbit, Grant Boatwright, David Briggs, Etc. Rock and country critics praised it and it earned airplay on college stations across America.
An album of all new material, the self-produced “Last Oneâ€, followed in 2005. Now, here we are in 2008 awaiting her live album, Live from Nashville,TN. An album to include some of her favorite songwriters’ songs, featuring a couple of Well-Known songwriter / singers soon to be released ending 2008.
