LimeWire Music Blog

While he isn’t a household name (yet), Tom Wurth is one of those artists that you just have a feeling about. He plays hard, but he balances that with an undeniable work ethic that comes across whether he is on stage, or in the studio. “If I had to define myself,” Wurth tells LimeWire Music Blog, “I think I would say I’m an everyday working guy. I think we like to have as much fun as we work.”

Wurth’s latest work is If The Road Runs Out. The singer recently released an all-new version of the album, complete with two brand new tracks. Real life inspired both of them.

On the chilling “I Almost Died Today,” Wurth sings about second chances and a new lease on life — both of which the singer knows something about. “I had a disagreement with a semi-truck,” the singer says that a characteristic smile, although the accident was no laughing matter. “That was number three. Can you believe that? I ended up breaking my leg in two different places, so we ended up pushing back the radio tour for the second single. I was out of pocket for about four months. Then I got in the studio, and started writing. So, that was one of the new songs on the album, which is about second chances.”

“I call it rolling with the punches, but that’s what country music is about. It’s life, so you just kind of take it as it comes, and make the most of it…till the road runs out!”

The thought of possibly losing his life was scary for the Iowa native, but he puts it all in perspective, along with his rising career, by saying “I call it rolling with the punches, but that’s what country music is about. It’s life, so you just kind of take it as it comes, and make the most of it….till the road runs out!”

The other new cut on the album is the dark and somber “Your Hometown.” Of that song, Wurth is equally excited: “That’s one of my favorite songs on the album. I co-wrote that one with Bart Butler and Glen Mitchell. That song is seven years old. I always loved that song, and always felt there would be a right time to put it on a project, and I felt the time was now. We’ve got a lot of stuff going on in our country, our houses, and our lives, and people are trying to get by. I felt that was a story to be told now, because I think sometimes we get overwhelmed by what is going on in the world, and forget what is going on in our backyard. Being able to take care of things right there at home, a lot of times, can make things better on a bigger picture.”

The release of If The Road Runs Out will no doubt please his ever-growing fan base, who became enchanted with the singer due to the success of records like “Good Ground” and “Bread On The Table.” Getting them out to the public is important to the singer. “I stand strongly behind these songs,” he says. “But times changed, and regrettably the self-titled project was eventually shelved. It was like taking a gift you never opened, and saving it for later. I don’t feel like this project and these songs were truly exposed to those who could enjoy the ‘gift.’ They all still stand up, and I’m more than excited to share them with fans, new and old.

“Bread On The Table,” one of his previous singles, was written by Sonny Lemaire, J.P. Pennington, and Shane Minor. While the latter has enjoyed success as a songwriter and artist in Nashville, the first two were linchpins in the group Exile. If you study Wurth’s career to this point carefully, you realize that he’s the kind of artist who has attracted a lot of prominent people to his cause. Tom agrees with that statement, but views it a different way.

“Well, I don’t know if I have a way of attracting people, but I think it might be more of a blessing,” he reflects. “In the last couple of years, I’ve been able to hang out and learn from a lot of those guys, like John Ford Coley. Also, John and I got to work with Eddie Money, which is a completely different side of the fence from country music, but it was a lot of fun. What we did was take a little rock and roll and add a little bit of Southern Baptist to it! It worked out beautifully. I’m a big gospel fan, too, and it was great to be able to marry two different styles of music like that. Another highlight was to be in the studio last year with Vince Gill. I’ve been real fortunate to hang out and learn from a lot of those guys. Marty Raybon is another one, and when you hang out with guys like that who have been to the top of the mountain…then school is in session, and you better listen up!”

That “school” has also included pop acts such as Percy Sledge and Chubby Checker, whom Wurth said gave him a profitable piece of advice. “I went up to him and ask him if there was any advice he could give to a newcomer in this business, and he looked me real hard and shook my hand, and said make a lot of money really fast!”

Whether the process makes him wealthy or not is beside the point, as Wurth admits “It’s been a good journey. That’s the best way I could say it.”
Of all the believers in Wurth’s cause, there’s one that stands a little taller: John Ford Coley. The surviving member of England Dan & John Ford Coley from the 1970s has been an erstwhile mentor for the singer. “He’s a good friend of mine — someone I admire a lot and have learned a lot from him on a musical level. He understands great songs, and because he’s a singer himself, he understands melody like no one else’s business. It’s been a great ride…We’re getting ready to do his record, and he hasn’t had anything out for about 25-30 years, so we’re very excited about that. It’s going to be very much a stripped down-acoustic record. There won’t be any hiding behind a big production or anything—he’s got a lot of heart and a lot of drive.”

According to Coley, the admiration is mutual. “Tom is a three-way hitter. He’s a tremendously gifted vocalist and artist. Tom has a genuine love for the song—strong and memorable melody—tunes that people can sing along with.”

That statement also applies to the singer, who takes a lot of pride in If The Road Runs Out. He thinks that the album offers many of his sides into full view — from the afore-mentioned serious side to the hilarious barroom antics of “It Ain’t What You’re Thinking.” The singer admits that “I’m a musical mutt. I’m from Northwest Iowa, and I listen to a lot of different things, and I took a lot of the great things of each genre and threw them into that melting pot.”