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Dr Tom Attah is a practising musician, and Course Leader for BMus (Hons) Popular Music Performance at Leeds Arts University. His research interests include the effects of technology on popular music, particularly blues music and blues culture.
As a guitarist and singer, Tom performs solo, with an acoustic duo and as part of an electric band. Tom's solo acoustic work includes his own original Blues compositions and has led to performances at major music festivals around Europe, including major stages at the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, the Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival, and Blues Autour Du Zinc.
Tom’s live work includes theatre and festival performances, workshops, seminars, lectures and recitals delivered to learning institutions, artistic communities and blues dance specialist events in the United Kingdom, mainland Europe, Russia, and the United States.
Tom's original music commissions include composing and performing the music for the HandelHendrix permanent exhibition in Mayfair, London, and Tom's multiple national radio appearances include performances and documentaries for BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, and Sky Arts
International festival appearances include:
Glastonbury Festival of the Performing Arts (UK)
Blues Sur Seine (France)
The British Invasion (Russia)
International Blues Challenge (US)
Blues Au Chateau (France)
The Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival (UK)
Maverick Americana Festival (UK)
Solo tours and one-off shows include venues in Israel, United States, France, Germany, Russia, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Greece and Mexico.
Articles
Attah, T., Ferrett, D., Finding, D., Inglis, I., Lloyd, C., Rambarran, S., Scott, D. B., Spelman, N. and Warner, S. (2016) ‘Sheila, take a bow: remembering Professor Sheila Whiteley’, Volume! The French Journal of Popular Music, 12 (2), pp. 205-215.
Attah, T. (2013) ‘Feels Like Going Home: Mythologising the Story of the Blue’, A Contriatempo: the Online Journal of Popular Music, 18 (21).
Attah, T. (2013) ‘Popular Music and Society “Fandom” issue’, Volume! The French Journal of Popular Music, 10 (1), pp. 320-322.
Attah, T. (2013) ‘Mythbusting #7: The blues is a traditional style unaffected by technology’, Blues in Britain Magazine.
Attah, T. (2013) ‘Mythbusting #6: Al Wilson had to re-teach Son House how to play the guitar’, Blues in Britain Magazine.
Attah T. (2013) ‘Mythbusting #5: Eric Burdon and the origins of The House of the Rising Sun’, Blues in Britain Magazine, 136.
Attah, T. (2013) ‘Mythbusting #4: Was Muddy Waters really painting the ceiling at Chess records when he met the Rolling Stones?’, Blues in Britain Magazine, 134.
Attah, T. (2012) ‘Commissioned review: The Jimi Hendrix Companion’, Volume! The French Journal of Popular Music, 9 (2), pp. 160-161.
Attah, T. (2012) ‘Mythbusting #3: Was W.C. Handy really the father of the blues?’, Blues in Britain Magazine.
Attah, T. (2012) ‘Mythbusting #2: Robert Johnson sells his soul to the devil’, Blues in Britain Magazine, 132.
Attah, T. (2012) ‘Mythbusting #1: Leadbelly sings his way out of prison, Blues in Britain Magazine.
Books
Attah, T., Duffett, M. and Halligan, B. (2018) Stories We Could Tell: Putting Words to American Popular Music. Abingdon: Routledge Press.
Book Sections
Attah, T. (2020) ‘To make purple, you need blue: Prince as embodiment of the postmodern blues aesthetic’. In: Prince and Popular Music Critical Perspectives on an Interdisciplinary Life. Bloomsbury Academic.
Attah, T. (2018) ‘I Thought I Heard That up North Whistle Blow’: African American Blues Performance in the North of England’. In: E. Mazierska, ed., Sounds Northern: Popular Music, Culture and Place in England’s North. Equinox Press, pp. 77-95.
Theses
Attah, T. (2017) Halls without walls: perpetuation, development & dissemination of the discourse on blues music and blues culture in the digital age (1996-2016). PhD thesis. University of Salford.
Conferences, Talks & Presentations
Attah, T. Halls without walls: examining the development, dissemination and perpetuation of blues music and blues culture in the digital age, 53rd Annual Conference of the Royal Musical Society. University of Liverpool. 7-9 September 2017.
Attah, T. Halls without walls: examining the development, dissemination and perpetuation of blues music and blues culture in the digital age, Digital Folk Symposium. University of Sheffield. 19 April 2017.
Attah, T. ‘Ain’t no grave can hold my body down’: exploring the persistence of mythology in blues music and blues culture, ‘Equal Platforms’ Research Conference. University of Gloucester. 4 April – 5 April 2017.
Attah, T. To make purple, you need blue: Prince and the modern blues aesthetic, Purple Reign: An interdisciplinary conference on the life and legacy of Prince. University of Salford. 24 May – 26 May 2017.
Attah. T. and Spelman. N. Sheila, take a bow: remembering Professor Sheila Whiteley, International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM). University of Sussex. 2016.
Attah, T. From the Delta to the Download: Influence and Effects of Technology in the Blues Innovation in Popular Music. Leeds College of Music. 2014.
Attah, T. Whose Blues?: Issues of Identity and Ownership in Contemporary Blues Music Culture and Performance, International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM). University of Glasgow. 2013.
Attah, T. Feels Like Going Home: Mythologising the Story of the Blues, International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM). University of Salford. 2012.