Tom Waits, born in Pomona, California in 1949, went from boozy piano balladry to the clattering junkyard theater of Swordfishtrombones (1983) — one of the great reinventions in American songwriting. Rain Dogs (1985) is the classic entry; Closing Time (1973) covers the early style. Dig into Tom Waits vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Tom Waits was born in Pomona, California in 1949. He emerged in the 1970s as a distinctive singer-songwriter working in jazz, blues, and beat-poetry-influenced balladry, then radically reinvented his sound in the 1980s toward experimental, percussion-heavy, theatrical music. He has also maintained a notable career as a character actor. Waits is widely celebrated as one of the most idiosyncratic and influential songwriters in American music.
Waits is known for his distinctively raspy, weathered voice and an aesthetic that blends jazz, blues, vaudeville, experimental rock, and avant-garde sound. His lyrics populate a vivid world of drifters, barflies, and outsiders. His post-Swordfishtrombones work in particular, with its clattering, unconventional instrumentation, has been enormously influential.
Waits's Asylum, Island, and ANTI- catalogs have been reissued in remastered and colored-vinyl editions, with Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones popular collector targets. Original pressings across his eras are widely sought.
Listeners new to Tom Waits often start with Rain Dogs (1985) or, for his earlier style, Closing Time (1973). For related listening, see and .
