Tom Yoder

Eat This It’s Safe

Tom Yoder’s debut CD is simply awesome!

I could stop this review at that, and it’s enough to describe this wonderful album by a master guitar-slinger. Yoder credits a long list of guitarists for their influence, yet he manages to sound like none of them; he sounds like himself.

He has that rare quality in a guitarist which allows you to enjoy what you hear rather than feel annoyed at a festival of useless showmanship. Yoder plays what needs to be played and nothing else. This album isn’t filled with… fillers! It has what needs to be had.

Pay attention guitarists: if you’re going to record a guitar album, do it like Tom Yoder does it. Never mind the rapid succession of scales: you may be faster than others, but that’s generally just practice. Do like Tom and play from the heart.

Another great moment of pure guitar pleasure! Tom Yoder is one of those rare guitarists that I really appreciate. He doesn’t set out to impress through speed and technique. He doesn’t set out to impress, just to make beautiful music. And that he does!

This is simply another album of beautiful music, played incredibly well. And believe me, I don’t give high ratings to many guitarists.

Yoder uses a lot of different, even strange tunings on this album, like the B F# E F# B E tuning of “As Is”. But it works quite well. For the guitarist, all tunings and capos are listed on the back of the album. And this is entirely acoustic.

The Moment the Apple Falls

All in all, I find this new album by Tom Yoder slightly better than his previous effort. I say slightly because the previous one was so good. Two out of two, not a bad average, I’d say.

With pieces like Vadgamma (Distant Memory), The Moment the Apple Falls and She Giggles A Lot, Tom has managed to make an album which keeps you coming back for more, an album which keeps surprising you every time you listen to it; there is so much being expressed on it.

I wish Tom a very long and very prosperous career.