This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen magazine #105 (April / May 2003). the magazine is available on newsstands and by subscription.

Tom Pacheco
The Lost American Songwriter
by Paul-Emile Comeau

For the last 30 years, Tom Pacheco has been writing songs that in recent years could have come to be recognized as quintessential Americana, and yet he remains practically unknown in his native country, even among devotees of that genre. Many of his songs are infused with a strong respect for what could be deemed traditional values, and yet record label executives have sometimes rejected them for being too radical. The man is artistically ambitious and extremely prolific, but he isn't driven by the superficial trappings that compel so many others to pursue fame and fortune. These seemingly paradoxical qualities have contributed to making Tom Pacheco an outsider in the music business and even in his own country, which partly explains why he lived in exile for 10 years.

Pacheco readily admits to being a solitary figure, and yet he has enough friends to be the envy of most people in that respect. Although he's a very sensitive songwriter, he's the very antithesis of the stereotypical navel-gazing singer/songwriter. His songs are often very reflective, but remarkably free of self-indulgence. Rather, his sensitivity usually manifests itself in a reverence for nature and an empathy with humans and other sentient creatures. His songs are often imbued with a deep concern for the state of the world, and yet he's much more than just a topical songwriter.

Music writer John Conquest once referred to Pacheco as "Dylan living in the real world." Another writer, Steve Morris, called him "the best (largely) unheard of singer/songwriter presently plying his trade," but that is a little misleading. In Europe, where he's popular enough to tour on a fairly regular basis, he has long been considered a cult figure. In fact, it may be more fair to say that he is as much forgotten in his home country as he is unknown, because he has had his moments. Even as far back as 1979, at a performance at Gerdes Folk City in Greenwich Village, he looked out into the audience and recognized Linda Ronstadt, Loudon Wainwright III, Ian Hunter, the Roche sisters, and Bob Dylan.

Although Pacheco's approach to his music is too multifaceted to be described with facile generalizations, there is a strong sense of history in some of his songs. Similarly, it's difficult to appreciate the full value of the man without exploring some of his own fascinating early history. As he pointed out, "My heritage is quite complex. I am a combination of Portuguese, French, Cherokee, Spanish, and Romanian Gypsy from my mother's side, and my father's family was from the Azores, off Portugal." One of Tom Pacheco's earliest musical memories and influences is of his father, Tony, playing Gypsy jazz guitar with Django Reinhardt. Shortly before Tom Pacheco was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, his father had been playing jazz in Paris with Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. His father and Reinhardt got together again a few years later in the United States.

While in his teens Tom Pacheco was exposed to Bob Dylan and the folk-rock scene of the 60s, as well as to country music, beat poets, science fiction, and other art forms, all of which became important influences. He formed a group called the Ragamuffins in the mid-60s, an era that he recalled fondly. "We were just a bunch of cocky kids from a small town in Massachusetts, and in the summer of 1966, we decided to give New York a shot. As soon as we arrived, we moved into the Albert Hotel and decided to check out the action at the Café Wha?, a popular club in Greenwich Village. We were in for a shock because the first band we saw was incredible, and we began to wonder if all the bands in New York were that good! The band was called Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. It turns out that Jimmy James was actually Jimi Hendrix."

While the band was still waiting for its opportunity to get an audition with the club manager, the opening act quit, and the Ragamuffins were asked to fill in. "Opening for Jimmy James became a regular gig, and Hendrix often sat in with us. Six weeks or so later, we watched Chas Chandler lure him into going to England, and our group soon moved on to regular gigs with a couple of other bands, one of which included James Taylor, the other, Jerry Jeff Walker." After relocating, Hendrix took up the cause of the Ragamuffins, passing on copies of a Ragamuffins single to DJs in the U.K. They gave it airplay, but the record didn't take off in the United States.

This is an excerpt from an article in Dirty Linen #105 (Apr./May '03). Read the full text in the magazine, available via subscription or on newsstands and in bookstores.