Music Artist Feature: Tobi Earnshaw aka TOBI

I recently had a chance to sit and chit chat a little with up and coming singer/guitarist/songwriter TOBI. While hailing from the other side of the pond, he’s found himself enjoying the chaotic life of promoting his debut album, Spirit In Me, here in the States.

TOBI had started off his entertaining itch by performing as a break dancer at the early age of two. As the years progressed, he began to dabble in his father’s musical shoes and began playing guitar. All it took was learning a couple of basic acoustic chords and he was set to go. That is, of course, until his mother crushed his dreams of becoming a successful solo guitarist and bribed him into performing at a local open mic night, which would result in a brand new guitar that TOBI had wanted. The young artist admitted that he did NOT like singing - dancing and playing the guitar was his forte. After being discovered and picked up by McTrax it was clear that he was not going to be simply playing the guitar.

TOBI took his influences—Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and John Mayer (an extreme emphasis of John Mayer according to TOBI)—and put together a nine track album that can be categorized as pop with a brush of blues. A couple of his favorite and more personal tracks are “Here We Go” and “You and Me.” “Here We Go” was inspired by his journey to leave London and come to the United States to set the path to becoming a successful musician. “You and Me” tells the story of a relationship that he shared with a girl, which had a lasting effect on him.

From what you can see, TOBI has a lot of potential and, quite frankly, is an enjoyable guy. His type of music might not suit everyone’s taste, but don’t disregard what he can bring to the table. If anything, check out this different spin on his song titled “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” which really hits upon his blues influences and feel free to learn more about TOBI at his website: www.tobiofficial.com and check out his video with Andy Fraser at http://youtu.be/tFc1YEXK2KM

Interview by Melissa Moreno