Voice Of The Seven Woods

Five eventful summers have passed since the young Rick Tomlinson stumbled in to Manchester's vivid musical landscape as a vinyl hungry psyched-out sidekick to Andy Votel and Dom Thomas on their formative Twisted Nerve radio show.

The self taught jack of all musical trades has since drawn influence from an oblique archive of obscure LPs and bizzare instruments and forged his own unique approach to making music. A potent cocktail of krautrock, folk, jazz, tropicalia and Welsh progressive rock has seduced stalwarts of Manchester's alternative music scene into countless collaborations with Rick at the helm.

Brandishing a masala of instruments ranging from brass and acoustic to electric varieties Rick has shared studio sessions with the likes of Lone Pigeon, Jane Weaver, Badly Drawn Boy, Dave Tyack and Aidan Smith, as well as stage time supporting Lincoln, James Yorkston, Turin Brakes and David Kitt. Various impromptu appearances at local folk clubs have earned Rick a bourgening reputation amongst hard core enthusiasts and mainstays of the folk scene such as John Renbourne who recently asked Rick to accompany him on future live appearances.

With an exhausting work schedule still chasing him, Rick Tomlinson has decided to unpack his suitcase and attempt to commit his very own hybrid blend of instrumental progressive folk to magnetic tape under the name 'Voice Of The Seven Woods'.

For these eagerly awaited solo sessions he has enlisted the skills of a drummer in a quest to create the authentic sound typified by the likes of Terry Cox in Pentangle with an added rhythmic influence of Turkish Psychedelic bands first heard in the mid 70's. Drummer, 'Chris Walmsley' who has recorded with forward thinking groups like Broadcast and as part of Jane Weaver and the Meadows is the perfect reactionary accompaniment to Ricks sporadic flirtations with time and tempo through baroque-jazz-rock, acid folk and South-Eastern psychedelia.

(Official Biography)