Thomas Wictor

Though my brother Pat Wictor calls himself a folk singer, he’s a lot more. Probably a roots-music singer, I guess.

He was once my little brother, but that doesn’t mean much anymore. I know a lot of families retain the “older-younger” dynamic, but when you get into your fifties (Pat’s not there yet!) that’s kind of silly.

Pay him a visit. Buy his myoozeek. Attend his shows. You won’t regret it.

Here’s his band. Buy his CDs! It’s acoustic-guitar-heavy, vocals-based music, with additional musicians the three principals on occasion. The band is known for its harmonies.

From’s Pat Website:

An American by birth, Pat was raised outside of the United States until his teenage years, living in Venezuela, Holland, Norway, and England. This time abroad gave him an unusually deep awareness of being a resident of a country while also a world citizen. Through these early experiences, he gained an appreciation for taking different paths to arrive at the same destination.

Pat and I have taken and continue to take vastly different paths, but we will arrive at the same destination.

Give him my regards. We see each other only when someone is ailing. And don’t let his folk-singer persona fool you. It’s all a front. Here’s a CD he gave me.

Folk singer my eye…

Deep within him lurks the kid who loved Jimmy Page, John Coltrane, David Gilmour, and others. Such as these guys.

Man, that’s some big hair. It was Pat who turned me on to one of my first bass heroes, Andrej Nebb. The translated Norwegian article calls him “Andrej Beak,” because “nebb” is Norwegian for beak. Nebb is missing the thumb, middle, and ring fingers of his fret hand, but that doesn’t slow him down.

Andrej Nebb is an object lesson in perseverance. I’ll never forget the moment I realized, “Holy shit! He has only two fingers on his fret hand!”

I never let my own many handicaps bother me after that.