As one critic once said, "Somewhere between Nick Drake's fragile beauty and Leonard Cohen's wry, literary folk" lives one Tom Langford, a singer-songwriter in the true positive sense of the sometimes misapplied label. But I wouldn't have known him were it not for Wes Wehmiller, his bassist and longtime family friend.

Tom was in the midst of recording Here Comes Memory when Wes passed away. I didn't know who he was or that Wes was working with him, but we ended up getting to know each other very quickly as we co-directed the musical component of Wes' memorial ceremony held in Pasadena in early February. If you can imagine this, Tom's band played two songs from his previous record—for which Wes recorded the bass tracks—and it was my job to play bass as Wes did, in front of his family and closest friends. So we bonded fairly quickly.

Wes had already recorded most of Memory, but there were four songs left, and Tom asked if I would finish the record. It was my honor and privilege to do so.

As for the musical aspect, Tom himself chose and provided the seriously old-school gear I used, and it was a real breath of fresh air to play simple, mature, folk-influenced rock for the first time in a while. Tom's voice is deep and haunting; he sounds like he's 70 years old. In a good way.

And if you want to know what a genius Wes was, buy this CD and check out Track 6, "Hold Me Harmless." It's beyond brilliant.

Click here for Tom Langford's website.