Track Listing

1. How Beautiful Upon the Mountain
2. Out on the Ocean
3. What a Friend You Are
4. When We Were Good
5. The First Song is For You
6. And If It's Not True
7. Bad Old Days
8. Reason to Be
9. I Like the Way You Look
10. A Long Way from Your Mountain
11. Home to Me (Is Anywhere You Are)
12. Jennifer and Kate
13. Dance in the Kitchen
14. You Are Love
15. Comedians and Angels

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19783 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-19
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
A longtime master of topical, personal, and children's songwriting, and the recent recipient of several lifetime achievement honors, Tom Paxton is in a richly reflective mood on Comedians & Angels, his first studio CD since Looking for the Moon, a Grammy finalist as "Best Contemporary Folk Album of 2002."

Upon turning 70, "I find that my definition of love songs is broader than I once would have found," writes Tom in the liner notes to Comedians & Angels, a thematic CD of "love songs, songs of remembrance and regret, even a hymn. . . . Still, there is love in them all."

Over the course of the new CD's 15 tracks, Paxton pays tribute to his family, his fellow musicians and activists, and to lovers "real or merely imagined." Stylistically uniting seven newly-penned originals with rerecorded versions of apposite songs from his back catalogue of more than 40 albums is the warmth, simplicity and from-the-heart grace that has been as much a Paxton trademark as his humorous, sometimes biting political songs, his Scandinavian fisherman's cap, and the twinkle in his eyes.

Tom's musical valentines name few specific names, leaving the songs universal, but his love for Midge, his wife of more than four decades and to whom the CD is dedicated, shines deep and bright on tracks like "The First Song is For You," "Reason to Be," "I Like the Way You Look," "Dance in the Kitchen," "You Are Love," and "Home to Me (Is Anywhere You Are)." "Jennifer and Kate" is a paean to two more of his angels, his daughters. The CD's opening hymn, "How Beautiful Upon the Mountain," celebrates the political activists of the Sixties and their idealistic descendants, and the album concludes with its title song, a melancholy but loving reminiscence of his former contemporaries on the early Greenwich Village folk scene, who included Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and Dave Van Ronk.

Recorded in Nashville by frequent Paxton producer Jim Rooney, who also contributes backing vocals, there's a light country/Americana flavor throughout Comedians & Angels provided by many of the musicians who also played on Looking for the Moon, including Al Perkins, Pete Wasner, Tim Crouch, and Mark Howard plus guest harmony vocalists Nanci Griffith, Barry & Holly Tashian, Suzi Ragsdale, and Jim Photoglo.

As one of the first modern folksingers to write his own songs - early, enduring, and much-covered compositions like "The Last Thing on My Mind," "Ramblin' Boy" and "Whose Garden Was This?" and recent, instant classics like the 9/11 reflection, "The Bravest" - Tom Paxton has influenced generations of singer-songwriters and attracted lovers of thoughtful, funny, heartfelt original music. He has set the creative bar high, but Comedians & Angels sails over it effortlessly, with room to spare.

All Music Guide
"Paxton's songwriting here is deep and affecting, touching the heart ever deeper with repeated listening. (4 out of 5 stars)"

Montreal Gazette
"...the most reliable of folk-rooted singer-songwriters...Paxton's voice is still supple...he's singing with total conviction. ****"

Customer Reviews

The "feel good" album of the year!
It's hard to listen to this album without a smile spreading across your face. Tom Paxton doesn't feel like he has to bring darkness and despair into the lives of his listeners to balance out the appreciation and wamth he conveys. It's as though he were gathering you (the listener) under his arm and saying, "After all, it's been a pretty good time, hasn't it? And there's always a little bit of hope in the hole that yesterday's tragedy blew into life, and a little new love where your heart used to hurt so bad." This CD is a musical hug for my generation (40++)to enjoy--but also for my eight-year old, whose favorite CD has been one of his kids' recordings from an early age. Carry on, Tom!

Tom Paxton looking both ways
This is a bit of a retrospective, with Tom looking back and appreciating the people in his life. The song writing is crisp and moving, the voice shows a little wear and tear, but it is good to hear from this fine musician, who has the respect of his fans and of his collaborators as well.

Better with age
I have been a fan of Tom Paxton's since 1968.
His voice has improved with age. This CD is brilliant!