Bio
CONTACT: tomrigney9@gmail.com
PHONE: 510 526-1048 (office) 510 367-3686 (cell)
Tom Rigney has been a part of the San Francisco Bay Area roots music scene for almost fifty years. In 2000, after fifteen years as the leader and electrifying violinist of The Sundogs, fiddler/composer Tom Rigney stepped out on his own with a hot new band, Tom Rigney and Flambeau. The repertoire is original, eclectic, passionate, and filled with a musical and emotional intensity that will come as no surprise to followers of Rigney’s career.
The son of baseball great, Bill Rigney, Tom is a native of the Bay Area. His musical career began after he finished his graduate studies at Harvard University, where he received a Masters Degree in Fine Arts.
Tom first rose to prominence in the music scene as the leader/fiddler of the legendary Bluegrass/Western Swing band, Back in the Saddle. He won a Bammie award in 1981 for the band’s debut recording. He also wrote their hit song, “Time and Again”, which rode the country music charts in the Bay Area for many weeks, no small achievement for an independent release.
In 1983 Tom joined Queen Ida’s Bon Temps Zydeco Band and toured the world with the Queen in for a year. It was at this time that he developed a love of South Louisiana dance music (Cajun, zydeco, and New Orleans second line grooves). These styles formed a major ingredient in the sound of his next band, The Sundogs. Teaming with songwriter Joe Paquin and slide guitarist T.J. Politzer, Tom and The Sundogs performed and recorded together for fifteen years. They released seven CD’s (and even an LP!), including two on the Rounder label. Their last recording, “Dancing Room Only”, spent eight weeks on the Americana Radio charts nationally. They toured extensively across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, performing at numerous major festivals and concerts and at more dances and nightclubs than anyone cares to remember. Their sound was a scorching blend of Cajun, blues, and roots Rock and Roll–original Americana music that struck a nerve with audiences all over the globe.
And now, with the broadening and deepening of his composing skills, and the refinement of his virtuoso technique on the violin, Tom Rigney has become the focal point of Flambeau, and the composer/creator of most the band’s music. The strong Cajun/zydeco influence is still present, as are the irresistible dance grooves that have been his specialty for more than thirty years. But there is also a deepening of the emotional range of his music and a concentration on creating moving and memorable melodies in a wide range of styles–he has literally become a “singer” on the violin. The music bursts with the energy of the bayou one minute, drives deep into the heart of the Blues the next; it can conjure the spirit and energy of old time Rock and Roll; it can raise the roof with a Celtic reel and then touch the heart with a beautiful ballad or waltz.
The current Flambeau lineup also features great three-part vocal arrangements in many of the songs. Rigney’s songwriting, and the band’s reimagining of some classic songs, is as eclectic and appealing as his instrumental compositions.
In 1998, Tom released the critically acclaimed Chasing the Devil on the Parhelion label. In 2000, he released Flambeau’s debut CD, Red Boots and Rice. Since then, Rigney has recorded and released a new CD (or DVD video) almost every year: ten Flambeau CDs, including two live CD/DVD video combinations, three Blues violin albums–A Blue Thing (2007), Back Porch Blues (2009), and Don’t Fight It (2012), all of which climbed to Number 1 on Sirius/XM Radio’s Bluesville Chart. The live DVD video Swamp Fever was part of the PBS music series Music Gone Public (2014) and was broadcast on more than 200 PBS stations around the country. More recent releases include two highly acclaimed twin fiddle collaborations with multi-Grammy winning fiddler Michael Doucet: Cajun Fandango (2016) and Roll On (2022). A brand new Tom Rigney and Flambeau CD–All Fired Up–was released in March of 2026.
There is no question that Rigney has become one of the premier blues and roots music violinists in the world, and he continues to be a prolific composer of powerfully compelling music for the violin, music whose influences come from a wide range of musical styles within the broad boundaries of American Roots Music. As a composer, as a violinist, as a band leader, Tom Rigney is a true American original.
