Tom is an accomplished musician “extraordinaire”! He is best known for singing and playing mandolin with longtime music partner Laurie Lewis since 1986.
While he is considered one of the most solid and tasteful bluegrass mandolin players in the business, Tom also plays fiddle, mandola and guitar. In 1998, he released a solo album, “Jubilee.” Bluegrass Unlimited magazine has said: “In the ‘Most Valuable Side Musician’ sweepstakes, the name Tom Rozum would appear year after year.” He has also been part of the staff of more than a dozen bluegrass teaching weeks across the country for the past 30 years.
For further interest, here is an interview with Tom, including some music videos: https://bluegrasstoday.com/california-report-tom-rozum-laurie-lewis-right-hand-man/
While at Northeastern, he was a phenomenal cartoonist with the Northeastern News. He says: “I am so very grateful to have fallen in with the folks on the News, and I remain grateful to be connected with them in such a special way.”
Tom has continued to apply his artistic skills by designing popular T-shirts for bluegrass and folk festivals, as well as posters and CD covers.
Tom neatly sums up his incredible career by saying:
“I’ve always said if I ever were to retire, I’d want to spend the rest of my life doing the same exact thing, except not to tour as much. I got to spend my ‘retirement’ as a youngster, performing in every state of the union, touring in 21 countries, playing a half dozen times or so on the ‘Grand Ole Opry’ and ‘A Prairie Home Companion.’ I was able to meet, perform and become friends with lots of my musical heroes. We’ve won awards in our small but international musical communities and recorded more than 20 CDs, two of which were nominated for Grammys.”
Those two Grammy nominations were for: “The Oak and the Laurel” (Best Traditional Folk Album) and “The Hazel and Alice Sessions” (Best Bluegrass Album).
Tom Rozum graduated from Northeastern University in 1973 with a degree in Liberal Arts.