Search - Tom House :: Jesus Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Once again, the very best.

Daniel W. Bleier | Hermitage, TN United States | 02/03/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Please understand, as a music fan who has over 800 CD's, there is no artist I listen to who approaches the honesty and art of Tom House. He gets better and better on each release, not because of major shifts in his music, but because he mines the depths of his soul deeper and deeper. A song like "Jesus Didn't Die..." and "Child of God" are harrowing and unflinching. Tom doesn't look like a star in this video age, but even if he did, the wormy truth he tells would keep many people away. He is serving a naked lunch."

An American master

Jerome Clark | Canby, Minnesota | 12/07/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"No doubt Tom House isn't for everyone, and if he were, he wouldn't be the distinctive artist he is. Musically, his roots are deep in the soil of Southern folk music; if you aren't listening carefully to the lyrics, you might think you were hearing some crack-voiced back-porch balladeer Alan Lomax stuck a microphone in front of half a century ago. The lyrics will tell you otherwise, however. For all the ostensible rusticity, House's is a modern sensibility, as witness "Jesus Didn't Die," an unblinkered telling of a horrendous hate crime. He writes with a precise eye and a keen sense of melody, wasting not a word. As in most traditional songs, House's characters are small-towners and rural people, their lives simple only to those who are observing them from a distance. House, who is looking at close range, treats his complex and sometimes confused characters -- at least the ones who deserve it -- with undeniable, albeit unsentimental, sympathy. I defy any father of a daughter to keep a tear out of his eye as he listens to "Papa's Dancing with His Daughter." For all the losers, ramblers, drunks, and thugs who populate House's songs, he has a commendable ability to evoke family love, as he demonstrated on his previous CD, 'Til You've Seen Mine, with the understated but achingly moving "Letter from My Father." This new CD is not quite the revelation its predecessor was, but it's pretty damn good, satisfying on every level, and yet more evidence that House is a great American artist, and a shamefully neglected one."

I love this guy!

tom haney | West Virginia | 04/02/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Think John Prine.

Similar vocals. Great tunes. Clever lyrics.

He's a little too honest and off the wall to be a commercial success

but he's a lot of fun.



I've been buying up his availabe CDS and I like them all.This may be my favorite but I just got it and need to listen a little more."