"His music recalls the intimate, working-class aesthetic of the folk artists of the ’50s and ’60s. His intricate, finger-picked melodies and chord progressions echo the emotional folk and outlaw country of idols Hank Williams Sr. and Johnny Cash."   -  Austin Sorette, The Sound 4.13.16


Check out the TOUR DATES page for show listings.
booking: tristanomand(@)gmail(dot)com

daily news, July 27th, 2017

If you are reading this, then maybe you saw me play once before in the recent past or was told by a friend to listen. It could have been at a cafe in Norcross Georgia, or a dive bar in North Carolina, in someone's living room, a coffeehouse in upstate New York, or all throughout New Hampshire in most of the small towns and the bigger ones. Maybe you bought a record from out of my guitar case, and we stood there talking for five or ten minutes, finding common ground, talking guitars, music, or life. Maybe I crashed on your couch, or in your guest room. You may have thrown a dollar in my case as you were walking by in a cafe somewhere on the east coast, and that dollar went towards my groceries for the week. You may have heard me on some kind of radio show on your way home from work, or on a podcast. You could be a venue owner who took a chance on me, or kept me afloat with a weekday gig even though the tunes leaned to the darker side of things. If you are not reading this, then perhaps you got into my tunes, listened for a while, and moved on to some other musical act. That's how it goes. Maybe you told me to my face how you didn't like what I did, and it bothered me for a little while, then it became fuel to be my absolute best and follow my instinct while learning to ignore voices of discontent. Maybe in one of the jobs I've worked, I fixed a pipe for you, or stained a deck, cleaned your boiler, or sold you a guitar, bass or amp, and the notion of me being a musician came up and down the rabbit hole you went. You may have seen me playing in the corner of a crowded bar, appearing to be ignored by most of the patrons and without a single smattering of applause, and you were one of the handful that actually listened and came up to me, giving such a nice compliment that it changed my dreary night into an evening worthwhile. I've played shows while tired, half-sick, depressed, elated, scared, hopeful, and everything in between. The guitar has been my shield, my magic carpet, my meal ticket, traveling companion, my way of expressing my true self. The lyrics are a way to tell a story, to paint pictures with words, and to describe things that are difficult to say, or very easy to say. It pulls me in, keeps me wanting more. More words, more time to write them and say them and sing them. More time to reflect, and scribble in notebooks, trying to pin down human emotions. Maybe you hired me for a wedding, or a party, or booked me on your show, or had me open for someone noteworthy. When you ask me to perform, to play my songs, then you are asking me to be myself. I am honored to be able to do this, and I just wanted to write this post as a way of saying THANK YOU for your support. From the very bottom of my heart. Thank you. I will keep on keepin' on and I hope you'll do the same.

Tristan

daily news, July 22nd 2017

Added some new gigs to the schedule and conjured up a few posters for shows in the coming weeks...July 27th in South Berwick Maine and August 4th at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth, NH to name a few. 

I am so honored to be playing in the lobby before the show on October 6th at the historic Palace Theatre in Manchester, NH. After me, the real masters perform in the main theatre and here they are: Tom Paxton, Makem & Spain, Schooner Fare, and David Mallett. Here is a link with info and tickets: http://www.palacetheatre.org/event-detail/2017-10-06/folk-extravaganza-2nd-annual/86800/

 

daily news, July 7th 2017

Hope you all had a happy and safe 4th of July, whatever it may mean to you. I can't believe it's July already, but then again time waits for no one and there are many things that are hard to believe.

Please join me tomorrow on July 8th at True Brew in Concord, NH with my good buddy, singer/songwriter Whetherman, aka Nicholas Williams. The show starts at 8 pm, and may be outdoors if weather permits. Check out the Tour Dates page for more info and also visit www.whetherman.net

NEW SHOWS ADDED, WITH MORE ON THE WAY AND A FEW VERY SPECIAL DATES TO ANNOUNCE...

Cheers for now...
Tristan

daily news, June 6th 2017

Thank you to all the kind people who came out to The Local in Warner, New Hampshire last Friday. I truly enjoyed my time there. The crowd dwindled a bit towards the end, which found me sitting down and picking on tunes I don't usually perform live. I appreciate the ones who stuck around to the end and offered kind words and picked up an album or two. I will be back at The Local on August 25th, 2017.

Note: the show at Mad River Coffee Roasters in Campton, NH has been switched from September 22 to September 29th. 

You can always order t.o. albums on vinyl and CD over at https://tristanomand.bandcamp.com/merch

daily news, June 1st 2017

Bacon Fest 2017...what can I say? It was an incredible day of music, good food, drinks, good people, and of course, close to 100 pounds of bacon. I'm hoping a good chunk of change was raised for the Continuum Arts charity (give 'em a google search, and I'm sure you'll agree after a little snooping that they are doing some beautiful things for kids who want to pursue the arts...)

So, with that last paragraph - THANK YOU MARTIN AND JEN ENGLAND FOR HAVING ME! Hopefully you see this. I have no idea who reads these things, or who doesn't. I'm glad you're checking in though. 

New song in the bag yesterday, and I cannot stop listening to the demo. It is always invigorating when that happens...creating something that is truly exciting for all the right reasons. Sometimes a song is just written to get it out, and you don't even want to look at the lyrics sheet after. (Just shove it in the box of ideas...)

In other news, the garden this year at our house is chugging along well and after much needed sifting, tilling and fence building it is in top shape. With a lightened tour schedule this summer I will have some time to tend to it and hopefully yield some nice results. (Photos coming soon...)

Oh yeah, US tour this fall will be assembled soon, as well as a release date for Tristan Omand: Live At The Stone Church.

Tristan

t.o. related interviews, articles and other notable stuff

A Gig Story, by Tristan Omand

My anticipation of the evening of September 24th 2016 was building like a tiny fire in the pit of my stomach as I found myself pacing around the yard of the North Buick Lounge, listening to the party sounds inside the barn, and looking up at a star-filled sky, trying to get my head straight and visualize putting on a good show. Man, this stuff isn't easy. Most of life is a blur, right up until that moment when I am on stage behind a microphone, with my guitar, playing my songs. Is that weakness, or am I just limiting myself? I'm happy doing other things too, but man, waiting in line at the bank...I'm awkward as hell. I can't sort out my insurance to save my life, but give me a guitar, and maybe a stage to play it on, and I'm in my own little world where I make all the rules and everything makes sense.

Finally, it was about fifteen minutes until I was to start my set, up there in North Berwick Maine. The energy in the barn that evening was strong, and the two opening acts were killer. Ten minutes in, and my heartbeat is approaching hummingbird territory, and I find myself stretching out here and there as if I'm some kind of athlete. A few knuckle cracks, leg stretches, and a "You can fuckin' do this, you've done it hundreds of times!" Five minutes until gig time, and I am on stage getting my equipment straight and the guitar in tune, going over a skeletal set list in my mind. I knew the first tune I would do, "Somewhere Between India & Idaho" and had a rough idea of a few others I wanted to play, but other than that it was a shoot-from-the-hip and read-the-audience kind of night.

A sweet introduction from Marty, and the set begins. I start riffing and trying to get into the music and make it the only thing that matters. "Don't look around the room," I think to myself. "You might see something or someone, and it will make your mind skip and take total control away from the music. Oh man, the monitors are just right, and my amp that I brought is just kickin' and perfect and clean." The crowd was electric, and I felt like some sort of classic stage performer. Like I was carrying some sort of torch. A lot of times I discredit myself, and I gotta work on the self-esteem thing like anyone else, but in that moment I felt pretty damn good.

Songs just come out of me, one after another, and I keep my eyes closed, almost imagining that I am hovering above myself, listening in awe at how I was singing. It was coming from somewhere deep, where thinking has no place, and subconscious takes over...That had never happened before. Maybe a Zen master would classify that experience as something or other, but I gotta tell you, it felt magical. I had gotten right to the bone of it. All the gigs, the chords, riffs, cables, lyrics, records, EVERYTHING. I got right back to the beginning, and to what truly matters: being inspired by the music. Thank you to Martin England and Jen England, Continuum Arts Collective, North Buick Lounge, and all the kind people who attended the gig. It was one for the record books, and in my top-five for sure.



© 2017 Tristan Omand