LONDON (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — U.S. folk singer Tom Paxton will be honored with an official Parliamentary tribute during his upcoming U.K. tour.
Tom will visit Parliament on January 22nd, prior to his London date at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, where he will be received by the House of Commons.
Alan Keen, MP for Feltham and Heston, who explained his push for recognizing Paxton with an honor: “Tom has quite a number of fans in Parliament who are not just listeners, but who can also play and sing many of his best known songs. The most prominent include Lord Kinnock (former leader of the Labour Party), Michael Ancram (former Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary) and the current Home Secretary, John Reid.”
“Tom Paxton has contributed so much to the world of contemporary folk song. His songs of protest against segregation in the southern states of the US in the sixties, apartheid in South Africa, the wars in Vietnam and Iraq through to the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans in the 90's. It was impossible not to be seriously moved by his recent tribute to New York City's fire fighters for their sacrifices following 9/11.”
“Tom’s songs of love and family and our many human foibles, both entertain and remind the public and politicians of how far short of our ideals we so often fall. Music and art has always played a crucial part in this process and Tom Paxton has been at the forefront for so many years. That is why we intend to pay a tribute to him in Parliament in January."
