Jim Newsom's musical career began when he picked up the basics from his sister's piano lesson books. He subsequently drove his parents crazy banging out rock & roll on the family's living room piano. In high school, he bought a flute for 25 dollars from a girlfriend in the marching band, and taught himself to play by listening to the recordings of Herbie Mann and Jethro Tull. He learned guitar from a Bob Dylan songbook. Music has been Newsom 's passion since he was very young. In addition to children's records like "Little Red Caboose," he wore out the grooves on his father's collection of 78 rpm recordings and early LP compilations of Glenn Miller's big band music. His first contemporary favorite was "The Roving Kind," by Guy Mitchell in the mid-'50s. From the time he received a small transistor radio for his ninth birthday, he was tuned into the music scene. He would lay awake nightly with the earphones plugged in, listening to the local Top 40 stations until they signed off the air at 1 AM, then tuning through the static to faraway clear channel stations like WABC, WOWO, WCFL, and WBZ. Later as a high school student in the small town of Suffolk, VA, he spent all his earnings from cutting grass, teaching tennis lessons, and refereeing junior league sports on record albums. While sports editor of the high school paper, he began writing album and concert reviews along with a regular column on the music scene. During his college years at Virginia Tech, Newsom played with several musical aggregations and worked on the air with the campus radio station, serving as music director in his senior year. Through the years, Newsom has played jazz, rock, blues, and acoustic music in a wide variety of settings. He has fronted a number of bands, with names like Bathroom Reading Material, Jim Newsom and the Wanderers, and the Bishop's Bad Boys. He released a solo album, Crazy Dreams, in 1992 that featured a guest appearance by his uncle, Tommy Newsom of TV's Tonight Show band, garnering positive reviews, regional sales, and radio airplay. He was honored with an Outstanding Achievement award in the 1994 Billboard Song Contest for his composition "If I Could Write a Song." Following the release of Crazy Dreams, he formed Jim Newsom and the PorchRockers, a band with a broad-ranging, eclectic repertoire. Based in Norfolk, VA, the PorchRockers evolved into one of the top jazz-oriented groups in the area and Newsom has become known for his flute facility and performing instincts. He continues to play solo gigs as well, and is also recognizable as the host of television programs for PBS affiliate WHRO-TV. For his "real job," Newsom is a senior officer with a local community bank. Newsom began writing for All Music Guide in March 1998. For AMG, he has reviewed current and historic jazz releases, classic rock, and soul, reggae, acoustic, and folk music. He continues to listen to and perform a wide variety of music. ~ Jim Newsom, All Music Guide