Tom Cochrane at City Winery

Tom Cochrane was born in Winnipeg, Canada, and lived in various parts of Manitoba and Ontario for most of his life. He purchased his first guitar at age 11 by selling a toy train set, and began performing across Canada by age 20. He briefly composed movie soundtracks in Los Angeles, California, but unable to find steady income, Cochrane returned to Toronto, where he drove a taxi cab and worked on the loading dock of a department store. He joined the rock band Red Rider in 1978 and served as lead singer and main songwriter for more than 10 years. By 1986, the band was billed as Tom Cochrane & Red Rider. Cochrane launched his solo career in 1991. Since 2002, Cochrane has reunited periodically with his former Red Rider band mates for concert tours. His sixth and most recent solo album is 2015's Take It Home. Cochrane currently lives in Oakville, Ontario, but spends winters part-time at his home outside of Austin, Texas.

Tom Cochrane has been a professional singer/guitarist for 40 years, but the current tour continues to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his first post-Red Rider solo album, the multi-million selling Mad Mad World (actually released 27 years ago). Presumably in his homeland an event like this would be staged in a large venue, but in the states, where he is less known, the tour took him tonight to the intimate setting of City Winery. This was Cochrane's first performance in New York in 10 years, and so he performed a two-hour show featuring Mad Mad World and highlights from throughout his career. The unique feature this time was that he was accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar and by an accompanist guitarist, Bill Bell. The mostly bare stage gave the appearance of a folk music concert, but the tea-sipping Cochrane poured intense energy into his vocals and strummed his guitar wildly like he was back in his arena days. With such a minimal backdrop, there was little to disguise the breadth of Cochrane's catalogue and his dedication to his craft. Only under these circumstances would one come to understand that Cochrane was a songwriter first and a rocker second. If "Life Is a Highway," as he sang in his best-known song, that path was filled with sharply insightful lyrics and a dedication to a passionate delivery.

Visit Tom Cochrane at www.tomcochrane.com.