Tom Paxton

A Songwriter’s Songwriter Photos by Michael G. Stewart Tom Paxton has been an integral part of the songwriting and folk music community since the early 1960’s Greenwich Village scene, and continues to be a primary influence on today’s performers. The Chicago native came to New York via Oklahoma, which he considers to be his home state. His family moved there in 1948, when Tom was 10 years old, and he graduated from Bristow High School and The University of Oklahoma, where he majored in drama while his interest in folk music grew and eventually predominated. His numerous awards include a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ASCAP Lifetime Achievement Award and BBC Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting.  Tom heard Flatt & Scruggs live in concert in 1960 in Greenwich Village at the Fashion Institute Auditorium with Joan Baez opening. “They were great and the song that sank into my soul was “Jimmy Brown the Newsboy,” Tom said. Earl played guitar on that song, v