Roots Music for the Soul

Since picking up the guitar at age 18, Todd Partridge has spent most of his adult life making his own music.  First with the band Black Light Syndrome then Salamagundi, and most recently, 5 albums and 10 years of shows in the U.S. and Europe with critically acclaimed King Of The Tramps.  In 2023 he released his first solo album “Autumn Never Knows”.   

With 10 albums of original music under his belt, Todd has proven that he has a unique voice.  What kind of music is it? Wandering Music. Whiskey Gospel.  American Roots music. Borrowing from the blues, American folk and country, classic rock and Americana, the music in Iowa has a unique flavor and feeling. Todd grew up in the raw, agricultural, midwestern prairie, surrounded by old barns and cornfields.  Where hard working Irish,  German and Scandinavian immigrants  elbowed out the french and Indians for a chance to cut farm ground out of the wild prairie.  Iowa is often called the middle border because it separates the busy East from the wide open West and the cold North from the sweaty South.   “I guess we don’t feel like we belong to any American cultural region, and have had to cut our music out of the same prairie fields.” Todd said. 

“I grew up listening to my mom’s Bob Dylan, Beatles, Blood Sweat and Tears and Santana records and watching the Grand Ole Opry on televesion every Saturday night.  My dad played trumpet in a big band, and he had jazz records around the house.  The soundtrack for my  youth was ACDC, Rush and Led Zeppelin, and for a couple years, in inner city Milwaukee, WI, a healthy dose of Parliament Funkadelic, Chaka Kahn and Ohio Players".  But, eventually all roads lead to the blues.  As a boy,  his family traveled a lot.  “My parents were born in Iowa, but moved us to California for opportunities, then Oklahoma, Milwaukee and finally back to Iowa.  We moved 12 times before I was 12 years old, I guess I never got to throw down roots, until we ended up back in Iowa.” Todd said. “I guess I’m just the wandering kind”.  

The Todd show is a foot stompin’, hand clappin’ rock and roll gospel, with heartfelt ballads and sing-a-longs.  According to “City View” show reviewer Chad Taylor, He is “Part troubadour, part tent revival preacher, Partridge holds court over his audience, welcoming all to the Tramps roots rock/jam band sound with the charisma of a faith healer.” 

For Todd, his solo shows are  a chance to stretch out and play King Of The Tramps favorites with a different intimacy and dynamic, and introduce new solo material.  “For me, as a performer, music is a two way exchange and I am looking forward to sharing these songs with new audiences and getting energy back from the crowd.” 

Todd says “I believe that music can heal and take away sadness.  I believe music can bring joy, if only for a moment.  This is the reason I write and play my music.  No matter where the venue is big, or small,  I will always give everything I have to entertain the audience, and to make them feel better than they did when they came to the show.  This is my passion, and my life.”