Doors 4pm, Music 7pm

Tom Passamonte

Tom was born into a very musical family starting with his grandfather Austin, followed by his father and his brothers. As a kid, he grew up around guitars, mandolins, banjos, and accordions. Tom was fascinated with guitars that quickly became his primary instrument of choice.Tom’s grandfather Austin taught him his first basic chords on the guitar at the age of 10. Austin’s brother Tom also taught him some jazz chords. His father Tom Monte was a jazz accordionist, with a fantastic singing voice. He performed for 70 years, starting professionally at 12 years old! Tom’s early influences were The Four Freshmen, Charlie Byrd, Freddie Green, Frank Sinatra, Ricky Nelson, Elvis, and the Everly Brothers. Then the Beatles arrived, which greatly influenced his guitar and singing styles. The Beatles also gave him the initiative to write his own songs, learning about Buddy Holly from the Beatles. Then came Eric Clapton and B.B. King and the Blues! Tom learned the Blues from them and loved it. From there he discovered Wes Montgomery and Herb Ellis and learned some great Jazz. From there Tom became a fan of Chet Atkins and learned “a little bit of Country” to round out his musical talent. Keeping music in the family, his daughter Sara also performs as a lead vocalist and his son Justin performs on piano, guitar, percussion, singer, and production engineer. The rest is history!

https://www.specialblendtrio.com/

Cover: $5