Hello and thanks for being with us for another edition of Sode the Jerker on songwriting.

Joining us for episode 283 is a British singer-songwriter who first came to the attention

of the wider listening public in the late 20 teens.

He scored a platinum seller with his 2019 debut album, What a Time to Be Alive, and late last

year released the longer-awaited follow-up,

I Am. He joined us to talk about his songwriting journey to date and the long road to the second

album, where Chuff to welcome the very talented Tom Walker to the show. Tom was born in 1991

in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, but moved with his family to Chelford on the outskirts of Manchester

when he was three. His dad John was a big music fan who frequently took his young son to see bands like the

foo fighters, The Prodigy and Muse in concerts. One particular visit to Paris for an ACDC gig

made a huge impression on the nine-year-old Tom and he received his coveted first electric

guitar as a Christmas present not too long afterwards.

He credits artists like Arctic Monkeys and fellow Scott Palo Nottini with inspiring him to start writing his own songs when he was around 15, and his ever-encouraging dad

Julie bought his son his first recording set up. Having struggled to find fellow musicians

to work with, Tom learned to be self-sufficient, teaching himself bass and drums in

order to flesh out his home demos. After leaving school, our guest studied for a beat-tech

in music at a college in Northwich, following which he enrolled on a songwriting and performance

degree course at the London College of Contemporary Music. One of the teachers, songwriter

Jess Ashurst, quickly spotted his potential and encouraged his development

as a solo artist.

Following graduation, Tom spent a year busking and hawking around his songs.

Eventually, through contacts he made during his studies, he secured management and, following

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