Honest Abe

‘Honest Abe and the Assassins’ is Tom Ovans' tenth album, and his best. Recorded at home on vintage and thrift store equipment, the four track recordings are rich and raw, eloquent, ragged and tender. Ovans played everything himself. Wrote and sang it all, too.

‘Honest Abe…’ is a two CD set - a big, sprawling epic hewn from a life lived in the shadows and on the edge. The scope is wide but the focus is personal, close-up, needle sharp. This is a work of weight and experience, maturity and depth. A culmination of sorts. It is an album of a lifetime that says more about America than it does any one man.

As Gavin Martin wrote in UNCUT magazine, 'Honest Abe is a one-man Exile'.

Tom Ovans lives in Austin, Texas.


Track Listing
Volume 1
1.Bakersfield Tonight
2.Hey Miss Lucy
3.Free Your Mind
4.Sunday Afternoon In Austin
5.Soul Street Shuffle
6.Send A Picture
7.In Memory Of Benny (2)
8.Song For The Homeless
9.In My Grave
10.My Home City
11.Pack Of Lies
12.Blow Man Blow
13.A Love Song
14.So Far Behind
15.Buddha
16.Innocent Man

Volume 2
1.Midnight Eclipse
2.Nashville Blues
3.Sister's Farm
4.Love & Trust
5.Lovers In The Night
6.Alright
7.Code Of The West
8.Look Out
9.I Got a Feeling
10.In Memory of Benny (1)
11.New Orleans
12.Brownssville Tonight
13.Trains Go By
14.Light Travels With Buddha
15.There's A Line


 

As a chronicler and troubadour, Ovans has trod a rough and ragged musical path across the States. In the early ’70s in New York City he walked the walk with a junked-out Tim Hardin and knocked-out loaded Phil Ochs. Over the years he has drifted, been homeless, stood proud, lain low, dug deep but always moved on. Following stints on the east coast, west coast, a short spell in New Orleans and 18 long years in Nashville, Tom Ovans landed in Austin, Texas, ten years ago with his painter wife Lou Ann Bardash. Together, they continue to live on the edge, away from the spotlight, fame or glare. He only rarely gigs or tours.