“At the heart of Tarbox’s music is his guitar, as raw as it is charismatic. It creates an electricity that courses through every song." - Twangville

Michael Tarbox writes songs anchored in rock ‘n’ roll, backwater blues, and hillbilly music. The Chicago Reader calls Tarbox’s singing “ageless.” His gospel-tinged electric guitar playing, tough as Texas barbed-wire, brings it all together.

Tarbox grew up in a mill town just west of Boston. He credits a cool babysitter with introducing him to the music that led him to become a musician. “She was the older sister I never had,” says Tarbox, “She and her art-room friends would come over to my folks’ house and play these incredible rock ‘n’ roll records. They were also listening to Leadbelly and Robert Johnson. It was a window into another world, and it changed everything for me.”

Tarbox began his career with The Tarbox Ramblers, a hard-hitting quartet that released well-received albums on Rounder and played countless shows throughout the US and Canada. The group featured both Tarbox’s own songs and his unusual arrangements of old blues and string-band music. The Washington Post called The Tarbox Ramblers “a force of nature.” Robert Plant saw the band play and recruited them, on the spot, to open a string of concert dates.

These days Tarbox is, for the most part, playing solo shows. His new songs are rough-hewn, direct, and imbued with a sense of hard-won perspective. They sound lived in. “My inspirations are from a world that’s vanished,” says Tarbox. “I let them guide me, but my goal is to create something new.”

PRESS

All Things Considered –– “Homemade rock ‘n’ roll with a dose of rattlesnake venom and gospel-drenched howling.”

The Calgary Sun –– “Tarbox is the most evocative and distinctive blues-roots artist to come down the pike in ages.”

The New Yorker — “Between the fiddle, string bass, drums and slide guitar, you won't know what hit you.”

Twangville –– "At the heart of Tarbox’s music is his guitar, as raw as it is charismatic. It creates an electricity that courses through every song."

VENUE HISTORY

Solo: Passim (Cambridge), Myrtle (Providence), Starry Plough (Berkeley CA), Parlor Room (Northampton MA), House of Blues (Cambridge), Orpheum Theatre (Boston), Sportsmens Tavern (Buffalo), Livingston Depot (Livingston MT), Wang Center (Boston), The Laurelthirst (Portland OR), Abilene (Rochester NY), The Sinclair (Cambridge MA), Narrows Center for The Arts (Fall River MA).

With Tarbox Ramblers: Orpheum Theatre (Boston), Lincoln Center (NYC), Riviera Theater (Chicago), Tractor Tavern (Seattle), Mississippi Studios (Portland OR), The Knitting Factory (Los Angeles) , The Ark (Ann Arbor), Beachland Ballroom (Cleveland), Roseland (NYC), The Birchmere (Washington DC) and Wolf Trap (Virginia).

Festivals: Bumbershoot (Seattle), Pickathon (Portland OR), Philly Folk Festival, Green River Festival (Massachusetts) and The Strawberry Music Festival (Ventura, CA). In Canada: Harbourfront Festival (Toronto), Salmon Arms Festival (Alberta), Burnaby Blues Festival (British Columbia) and Kitchener Blues Festival (Ontario).