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Tom Wehrle’s “Come May” Named April “Best Song Of The Month”
By Dale Kawashima
Tom Wehrle, a talented singer/songwriter based in St. Louis,
MO, has won the SongwriterUniverse “Best Song Of The Month” Contest for April,
for his song “Come May.” This song is one of twelve cuts featured on his debut
CD release, Something You Can’t Find, which was released in May 2003.
Tom Wehrle
“Come May” is an excellent, midtempo, rock/pop cut, which is
reminiscent of the piano-based, American-heartland style a la Bruce Hornsby. Wehrle is a
gifted piano player, and he also plays some of the guitar tracks. The song
starts out intimately, focusing on Wehrle’s vocals and piano, then gradually
builds into a strong, rock arrangement. Wehrle expertly produced the recording,
which also features solid contributions by Dan Smith (guitars) and Drew Bailey
(drums).
Wehrle was born in Crown Point, IN, and subsequently moved
with his family to Cincinnati, and then to St. Louis. He learned to play piano
first (at age 10), then guitar. “I come from a music family; we had a piano at
the house” explained Wehrle. “The first song I learned to play was ‘For You,’
by Michael W. Smith, which was one of my favorite songs.” Besides Smith,
Wehrle’s other music influences include U2, Dave Matthews, Beck, and John
Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls.
During high school, he played keyboards for a band called
Good Friday, which recorded a couple of CDs. Although he co-wrote the music for
many of their songs, it wasn’t until the band broke up in 1998 that he began
writing lyrics, and fully focused on his songwriting. “I built a recording
studio with my best friend (Josh McAlister), and I started writing songs by
myself and recording the demos,” said Wehrle. “People were telling me they
liked the songs, which encouraged me to write more. I recorded a couple
six-song EPs (in 2002), then I wrote & recorded (the 12-song CD) Something
You Can’t Find.”
Tom Wehrle, playing guitar at one of his solo shows.
“Come May” was inspired by true events: the wedding of his
friend Josh, and his own thoughts about moving to Nashville. “Josh got engaged,
and he asked me to be the best man at his May wedding,” explained Wehrle. “At
that time, I was thinking about moving to Nashville (to further his music
career). I thought that if I moved to Nashville, I would still return home to
celebrate Josh’s wedding. ‘Come May’ was about what I was going through during
this time.”
Following the release of Something You Can’t Find,
Wehrle has toured consistently, performing college gigs as a solo artist
throughout the U.S. (his brother John is his manager, and he books the concert
tours). Also, Wehrle was recently selected as one of the Top 50 unsigned acts
by the American Music Awards & CMJ. “I want to keep growing as a
songwriter, and I also want to diversify (musically), by bringing in more
musicians to work with. I’m a fulltime artist now, so I want to keep touring
and writing, and working hard on (building my career).”
Here are the Top Five Songs which were submitted for this month's contest, with the songwriter credits, plus their e-mail and website links. To hear the songs, please click on "Listen To Song".
"Best Song Of The Month" Winner
"Come May". Written & performed by Tom Wehrle, St. Louis, MO.
"Can't Go Back" (pop-rock). Written & performed by Nick Hinton, London, England. You can listen to an edited version of this song by clicking his website link. E-mail:info@angrynote.com (Nick Hinton) Website:www.angrynote.com
To enter the next "Best Song Of The Month" Contest (the deadline is the last day of each month), please Click Here For Info