Tom Pomposello

Who was Tom Pomposello?

Tom Pomposello was an American roots musician, notably playing and recording with country blues musician Mississippi Fred McDowell, who also worked as a cable television and advertising producer for clients like Nickelodeon, Nick-at-Nite, and MTV. He died in a car accident outside of Kingston, New York in January 1999.

Born and educated on Long Island, New York, Pomposello had an early affinity towards music, eventually teaching himself the guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, mandolin, dulcimer, and dobro. Getting caught up in the pop music revolution that swept the world in the wake of The Beatles, he had a particular interest in blues-based English bands like The Animals and The Rolling Stones, which led to a lifelong passion for American blues.

After a brief thought of joining a seminary, Pomposello married young and had a son, Travis. Needing to earn a living without a college education, he teamed up with a close friend, Rob Witter, and opened a "hippie" record store in Huntington, New York. Emblematic of the times, the two named their business 'Kropotkin Records', and it distinguished itself from other, similar stores of the era for avoiding the sale of marijuana paraphernalia and concentrated instead on its owners enthusiasm for the rise of the album era of music, rock and otherwise. Soon after the opening of the business, Pomposello earned his permanent stage name, “Honest” Tom Pomposello, when running for office as Huntington’s Receiver of Taxes.