Tommy Womack

{{short description|American singer-songwriter and author (born 1962)}} {{Infobox musical artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Tommy Womack | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | landscape =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1962|11|20}} | birth_place = Sturgis, Kentucky, United States | origin = Nashville, Tennessee, United States | death_date =  | death_place = | genre = Post-punk, roots rock | occupation = | instrument = | years_active =  | label = | past_member_of = Government Cheese, Bis-Quits | website = {{URL|http://www.tommywomack.com/}} | module = | module2 = | module3 = }} '''Tommy Womack''' (born November 20, 1962, in Sturgis, Kentucky)<ref name=eu>{{cite web | url=http://www.eujacksonville.com/pages/06-21-07/tommywomack.htm | title=Still crazy after all these years | work=EU Jacksonville | date=21 June 2007 | accessdate=22 January 2016 | author=Wagner, Christina|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203132841/http://eujacksonville.com/pages/06-21-07/tommywomack.htm|archivedate=2008-12-03}}</ref> is an American singer-songwriter and author.

==Career==

===Early endeavors=== Womack played with the band Government Cheese from 1985 to 1992.<ref name=eu/> He wrote an engaging memoir about this experience called ''Cheese Chronicles: The True Story of a Rock 'n Roll Band You Never Heard Of''. It was originally published in 1995 and its reputation grew enough to warrant multiple printings. ''Nashville Scene'' said, "his hilariously honest memoirs...have become a cult favorite among musicians both famous and unknown".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nashvillescene.com/arts_culture/required-reading/article_aef3b3a3-1fc4-5269-a98f-f3728adadb8a.html | author=McCall, Michael and Ridley, Jim | title=Required Reading | work=Nashville Scene | date=22 May 1997 | accessdate=27 January 2023 }}</ref>

Womack later joined the Bis-quits, which released one album on Oh Boy Records in 1993.<ref name=Tennessean>{{cite web | url=http://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/2015/09/29/nashville-helps-tommy-womack-keep-music-playing/72586398/ | title=Nashville helps keep almost-famous rocker's music alive | work=Tennessean | date=29 September 2015 | accessdate=22 January 2016 | author=Bliss, Jessica}}</ref>

In the mid-1990s, Womack began writing songs with Jason Ringenberg of Jason & the Scorchers, a band that Womack had idolized. Looking back in 2012, Ringenberg said that he'd originally viewed Womack as a pest, but he gained respect after reading ''The Cheese Chronicles''.<ref name="Hisaw">{{cite news |url=https://lonestarmusicmagazine.com/ring-of-fire/ |author=Hisaw, Eric |title=Ring of Fire |work=Lone Star Music Magazine |date=May 2012 |accessdate=2023-01-25}}</ref> They co-wrote three of the first four songs on the Scorchers' 1996 album ''Clear Impetuous Morning''.

===Solo career=== Womack released his first solo album, ''Positively Na-Na'', in 1998, followed by another one, ''Stubborn'', two years later.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/tommy-womack-mn0000934779/biography | title=Tommy Womack Biography | work=Allmusic | accessdate=22 January 2016 | author=Ankeny, Jason}}</ref> In 2002, he released ''Circus Town'', his third solo album.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2002/10/18/last-train-home-tributaries/11f2d266-56ec-441a-ac07-a92117a7b1b0/ | title=Circus Town Review | newspaper=Washington Post | date=18 October 2002 | accessdate=22 January 2016 | author=Jenkins, Mark}}</ref> Womack and his band released an album in 2003 entitled ''Washington, D.C.'', which was recorded live in an XM Satellite Radio studio.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://nodepression.com/album-review/tommy-womack-band-washington-dc | title=Tommy Womack Band - Washington, D.C. | work=No Depression | date=31 October 2003 | accessdate=22 January 2016}}</ref> In 2007, he released ''There, I Said It!'', which became his biggest success.<ref name=Tennessean/> The album's success led to Womack receiving glowing reviews from the national press and offers for international gigs.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://americansongwriter.com/2012/02/tommy-womack-now-what/ | title=Tommy Womack: Now What! | work=American Songwriter | date=20 February 2012 | accessdate=22 January 2016 | author=Moore, Rick}}</ref> He followed it with the 2012 album, ''Now What!'', which contained songs about a wide variety of topics, such as family life and the perils of road life.<ref name=Tennessean/>

Womack's songs have been recorded by Jimmy Buffett, Jason Ringenberg, Dan Baird, David Olney, Todd Snider, Kevin Fowler, Scott Kempner, and others.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/tommy-womack-mn0000934779/credits|title=Tommy Womack - Credits - AllMusic|website=AllMusic |publisher=}}</ref>

He is the author of two books. In addition to ''Cheese Chronicles'', the other work is ''Lavender Boys and Elsie'', an offbeat Civil War novel (self-published in 2008).

Womack's eighth full-length album ''I Thought I Was Fine'' was released in 2021 and received an "A" review from veteran critic Robert Christgau, who claimed that "never has this Nashville lifer made more of his knack for words and the tunes to put them across ... so funny and humane that you can't help rooting for him."<ref name="xgau">{{cite web|last=Christgau|first=Robert|authorlink=Robert Christgau|date=July 13, 2022|url=https://robertchristgau.substack.com/p/consumer-guide-july-2022|title=Consumer Guide: July, 2022|work=And It Don't Stop|publisher=Substack|accessdate=July 24, 2022|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Personal life== Womack is married to Beth Womack, née Beth Tucker, an Emmy winner for her work on WTVF in Nashville; she now works for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. They live in Nashville with their son and pets.<ref name=Tennessean/> In June 2015, he was injured in a car crash in Sonora, Kentucky, when his Nissan Sentra was broadsided by a tractor trailer. The crash broke four bones in his pelvis.<ref name=Tennessean/>

Womack is active on Facebook and has frequently posted publicly there about his battles with bladder cancer<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/tommywomack/posts/pfbid02sscBwohsBWKZKTdDs9KDLHXhMK7jKC1HKd2yEHfCw5KkREnncrBT9UxZwjTbQcT5l |title=Yay rah! I get to have the first of three bladder cancer (ill) "treatments" in 45 minutes |publisher=Facebook|date=July 14, 2023 }}, accessed July 19, 2023</ref> and his sobriety.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/tommywomack/posts/pfbid0GNTAdj5SCgbQaZRb8vDi8zqgHPDKLRWVRMVAnhBBdCnTZJmcnjYdYwcc51itaLmFl |title=Eleven years. Not a drop.|publisher=Facebook|date=July 18, 2023 }}, accessed July 19, 2023</ref>

==Discography==

===Solo albums=== * ''Positively Na Na'' (1998) * ''Stubborn'' (2000) * ''Circus Town'' (2002) * ''Washington D.C.'' (2003) * ''There, I Said It!'' (2007) * ''Now What!'' (2012) * ''Namaste'' (2016) * ''I Thought I Was Fine'' (2021)

===With Bis-Quits=== * ''The Bis-quits'', The Bis-quits (1993)

===With Daddy=== * ''Daddy at the Women's Club'' Daddy (2005) * ''For a Second Time'' Daddy (2009)

===With Government Cheese=== * ''Live! Three Chords, No Waiting'' (1989) * ''Government Cheese'' (1992) * ''Government Cheese: 1985-1995'' (2011) * ''Government Cheese: The Late Show'' (2015) * ''Government Cheese: Love'' (2022)

===With Todd Snider=== * ''The Devil You Know'' (2006) * ''Peace, Love and Anarchy (Rarities, B-Sides and Demos, Vol. 1)'' (2007)

===Other appearances=== * ''Lucky 13'', (with The Bis-quits) (1998) * ''Freedom Sings - First Amendment Center'' (2000) * ''Freight Train Boogie: A Collection of Americana Music'' (2001) * ''All Over Creation'' by Jason Ringenberg (2002) * ''Home Away'' by Will Kimbrough (2002) * ''The Gene Pitney Story Retold'' (2002) * ''This is Where I Belong: The Songs of Ray Davies & The Kinks'' (With Bill Lloyd) (2002) * ''Every Word: A Tribute to Let's Active'' (2003) * ''Jambodians'' (2004) * ''35 Years: Bear Family Records'' (2010) * ''The Six Sessions'' (with Will Kimbrough) (2010) * ''The Oxford American-Southern Music CD #15 Featuring Music of Tennessee'' (2013)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.tommywomack.com/}} * [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nashville-storytellers/id1079213956?mt=2 Nashville Storytellers Profile Episode]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Womack, Tommy}} Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:People from Union County, Kentucky Category:Rock musicians from Kentucky Category:Singers from Kentucky Category:Songwriters from Kentucky Category:Singers from Nashville, Tennessee Category:Songwriters from Tennessee