Tom Neilson - Satire, Social Commentary, Themes of Social Justice

Friday, February 27, 2026 at 7pm at Fiddler's Dream Coffeehouse, 1702 East Glendale Avenue, Phoenix AZ 85020, KN95+ masks required and provided free. Doors open 6:30pm. $15-$25 free willl admission.
Born on a dairy farm, Tom was raised with long days in the barns & hay fields of upstate NY. Soloing in the Sand Hill Methodist Church at the age of 3, he first learned performing arts under the tutelage of his choir director and church organist mom. He received awards in grade school talent shows and performed in adult theater and musical groups as a child. His undergrad work was in education at SUNY Cortland where he studied voice with Guy Webb, who told him that one day he could make a living singing. But by graduation in 1970, Tom had concluded that he had more in common with Vietnamese farmers than he had with the Wall Street brokers who were sponsoring the war. An anti-war organizer in the 60s, he left the US for Colombia where he lived and worked until 1974.
He re-settled in Northern Idaho, where he, among other things, was Athletic Director for Special Olympics. Weekends found him hiking and camping through the western slopes of the Rockies. His first professional work as a musician was singing at funerals in Lewiston, ID. By the end of 1975, he was heading to West Africa where he lived in Senegal until 1978 working in public health. With aspirations to cross the Sahara, Tom moved to Portugal where he taught English and waited for the weather to cool. The Sahara was never traversed, but he did frequent North Africa. Back in the US, Tom was a tri-lingual counselor in the Alcoholism Unit at Cambridge City Hospital while getting his M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from Northeastern, where Tom soloed on his second record (vinyl) of Classical/Contemporary music. As a classical vocalist, he has performed at the Washington Cathedral, New York City’s Town Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and the New England Conservatory of Music.
He continued his academic habit by enrolling in the doctoral program in International Education at UMass Amherst, but after one year accepted a position in Kenya where he worked as a rural development consultant and Training Director for Peace Corps. In 1988, his music friends Dave McCurry, Bonnie Mullinex, and Mark Lynd told him that he should record his music. The traveling came to a hiatus when Jacob was born and Tom "settled" into day jobs working with people with addictions, HIV, teaching physical education, performance art and coaching.
Tom provides a voice for those who believe in the power of folk music to effect change. His award-winning songs of humor and compassion have been performed in 22 countries on 5 continents. His lyrics are celebrated for their sophistication, political astuteness, & wit. Combining art with activism, he has appeared with Vijay Prishad, Medea Benjamin, Cynthia McKinney, Amy Goodman, Cindy Sheehan, Cesar Chavez, Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader, Ray McGovern, Howard Zinn, David Cobb, many others, & played at the Martin Luther King Center in Havana, Cuba.
His travels are reflected in his songs, intertwined with farm roots and a fervent commitment to social justice, as he writes about historical and current events. He has been at the forefront in helping communities organize against water privatization, mountain top removal, nuclear energy, incinerators, GMOs, fracking, & toxic waste.
Known locally as the Bard Insurgent, Tom is a veteran of stage and street theater with his writing, acting, and directing. His songs draw the listener into his musical response to globalization. He plays at union halls, colleges, conferences, cafes, house concerts, and has performed for countless benefits and causes. His music has been used in documentaries, TV shows, stage and street theater as he tells the stories of people’s struggles against greed & violence, interjecting a good deal of levity along the way. If you ask him, he'll tell you he's just a farm boy with a guitar who loves a good ball game and human rights. He does residencies in high schools and colleges focused on musical theater, songwriting, and social justice themes. When not playing music, you can find him and Lynn digging in their gardens, stopping tar sand trains and gas pipelines, working for wter and forest protection and enjoying their far-flung family. At 76, he is the oldest player in the Western Mass Over-45 Baseball League. And you can still find him in the gym shooting threes and hanging in the air, though no longer confused with Elgin Baylor. Tom is a member of AFM Local 1000, the Traveling Musician's union. He and Lynn live in Greenfield, MA.
We will have coffee (strong and fabulous!), teas, Boxed Water, sodas and cocoa! Our commitment to inclusion, community care, and clean air events continue, join us as we celebrate our 39th year of showcasing acoustic music, poetry, and much more!