Tommy Womack and Dan Seymour perform at Java City. Submitted photo.

Tommy, it is always a distinct pleasure to welcome you to Java City and back to Western. The last time you played Java City, the crowd really responded to you and we are looking forward to having you again.

I’m looking forward to being back. I was sick as a dog that last time I was there but the show must go on, you know. And it worked out rather well. I got a kick out of playing in the library I did so much studying in a quarter century (or more) ago.

Can you tell us a bit about your personal and musical history?

I was born and raised in Kentucky, about 2 hours west of Bowling Green. I grew up in Madisonville, a coal town. Tough people live there. You learn to be tough yourself growing up in such a place.

I come from a completely non-musical family. We didn’t hum or anything. Musicians were like this exclusive club I never thought I would be eligible to join. I still feel ineligible, like I’m still waiting for someone to come along and hand me a certificate and say ‘congratulations, you’re a musician now!’

I bought my first acoustic guitar in the summer of ’78 for exactly 18 dollars. I still have it. I got my first electric the next summer for 65 dollars. I wish I still had that one.

How did you get started in music?

I wood-shedded. When I got those guitars there were hardly any teachers where I lived, no internet. You had to figure it out on your own, from other people who played, and by playing along with records. I literally slept with my guitar, for years and years. Ask anybody I roomed with in college who had to put up with my noodling day and night. I had a guitar with me all the time. I mean ALL the time. I was obsessed.

In ’82, I joined a frat band. We played parties 2 or 3 times a semester. I also started playing at the Catacombs, a coffee house behind the Newman Center, acoustically. I think that was 1984. Then in late ’84, Skot Willis and I started going through different musicians until we found the guys who would be Government Cheese. That’s when things took off.

Who influenced you as musicians? Anybody local?

Absolutely on the local influence! Clayton Payne played acoustic 12-string and sang in local Bowling Green bars 6 nights a week. He did James Taylor type stuff. He had a distinctive fingerpicking style; you use the thumb and middle two fingers. I went to see him several nights a week for forever and studied him. So now I fingerpick just like he did. He taught me, you might say. Or you could say I stole his licks, either one. But the way I fingerpick to this day is the way he did it. Clayton had a bad car wreck 17 years ago and sort of vanished. I wonder where he is now. Lovely, talented guy.

So far as more famous influences, it’s all over the map: Bob Dylan, Scotty Moore, Ray Davies, Robert Johnson, Keith Richards, Muddy Waters, Jason & The Scorchers, John Lennon, Joe Strummer, Bruce Springsteen, John Prine, R.E.M., Richard Thompson, Lou Reed, a lot of others!

What is your favorite sort of gig?

Doesn’t matter how big or small it is, or whether it’s with a band or solo, all that matters is they listen. When you get a room full of listeners, people who are really hanging on your every word and lick, that’s the stuff. I can do good work in that environment.

Your music seems to be a bit country/folk and a bit rock, how do you define your sound?

It’s rock and roll. All of it. Even the ballads. I started in rock and roll and haven’t left. It doesn’t sound like rock when it’s all on acoustic guitar. But that’s what it is. No matter how folky or country it may come out sounding because it’s so often just me and a wooden guitar, underneath all that, it’s rock and roll. Always has been. Okay, a little of it is country, but the truth is I like singing and playing country more than I like listening to it. I’ll take AC/DC over Johnny Cash any day.

I know you write a lot of your music, where to you get the ideas for your songs?

I don’t get ideas. They get me. Often while I’m driving. I carry little notebooks around and scribble lyrics whenever they come to me, often while steering, looking at the road with one eye and my notebook on the passenger seat with the other eye. You talk about the dangers of texting while driving, try writing a song while driving sometime!

I know you used to play with Government Cheese and your book “Cheese Chronicles” was an awesome read. How’s the book doing? Do folks still ask about the Cheese?

The book’s still in print and it still sells. That’s been a great experience, being the guy who wrote that. So many people have come up to me, or written to me, telling me how much that book means to them. A lot of serious rock stars love that book: guys from Cheap Trick, the Black Crowes, and lots of others. The guitarist in Hootie & The Blowfish found my number in information and called me at home one day just to tell me how much he liked that book.  I’ve got a 5-star reader rating on amazon.com too.

And  yes, people ask about the Cheese all the time. We never broke big, but we actually were a little bigger than we realized at the time. When you’re doing it, you’re in a bubble and can’t tell; but later on, I’ve found out we were bigger than any of us actually thought we were at the time, judging from how many people come up to me saying they were big fans.

Who are you playing with now?

I have a band with Will Kimbrough called DADDY and we just put out our second record, “For A Second Time”,  which just went to #1 on the EuroAmericana chart.  It’s a great band.

On my own time, I do a lot of acoustic shows with Nashville buddy Dan Seymour on bass and Lisa Oliver Gray (another Western grad!) on harmony vocals.

You’ve had such a marvelous career, but where do you want go with your music now?

Marvelous career? Me? That’s sweet of you to say, but it’s been a long hard slog. I’ve paid a lot of dues, logged a lot of miles, and sung a lot of songs.

Where do I want to go with it now? More songs about people like me, people my age, people with the hopes and fears middle-aged people have. I’m no youngster, so I’ll let other people write songs for youngsters. My audience is my age and I want us to grow old together.

I’d also like to go to the bank! With a royalty check. A large one. Maybe several of those!

Tell us about your new CD?

DADDY (Will Kimbrough & Tommy Womack) “For A Second Time” (Cedar Creek Music). Available on iTunes, Amazon, and everywhere else.

Are you working on another recording?

I’m writing songs for it. The last solo record, “There, I Said It!” did very well and had my best songwriting ever on it, so I have an act to follow and I’m taking my sweet time making sure the next batch of songs are as good as the last batch. I’m in no hurry. Hopefully in late 2010 I’ll have that record out.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Health care for everyone!

Tommy will be performing at Java City on September 22nd at noon.  The Java City  Café is located on the WKU Campus at the entrance to the Helm Library. Weather permitting, Tommy will be on the patio outside Java city.

Jack Montgomery is a librarian, author and associate professor at Western Kentucky University where he handles bookings for musical acts in University Libraries, Java City coffeehouse. Jack has also been a professional musician since 1969 and performs with a celtic quartet called Watersprite.