Tom Butler - Thinking Out Loud (Ed Sheeran Cover)

Buy Tom Butler music here (Amazon UK)

There's something about Tom Butler music that always seems to appeal to me - whether it be his own rather lovely compositions or his interpretation of other people's songs. It's a combination of elements. Certainly, it's his engaging singing style that brings out the core emotions of the song with an eloquent charm. And it's definitely the organic nature of the tracks that focus on real, live instruments which ensure you feel like he's in your living room playing directly to you. But a large part of the appeal seems to be Tom's love for his craft. Even during more melancholy numbers there is a sheer joy in his singing that fuels the passion needed for the narrative of the song. So when he takes on an extremely well known track like Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud it is, for sure, in safe hands. The song commences with just Tom and his trusty guitar, his resonant tones guiding the melody of the song around his gently strummed chords. The texture of his band's contribution (both in terms of adding to the essence of the instrumental as well as providing sweetly sung backing vocals) floats in so seamlessly that you barely know it's happened (and yet the entire performance is enriched because of it). There's an integrity in Tom's singing that shows his respect for and understanding of Ed's lyrics and he performs in a way that showcases how he has imprinted his own life experiences onto the song to make it his own. It all works splendidly and is a shimmering example of musical talent from start to finish. Great stuff.

(PS, you may not know that Tom co-wrote and played guitar on Harriet's Love Will Burn song which gave him his first BBC radio play. One can only assume it won't be his last - and that next time, it will be his own music).