Musician, local business owner, ukulele enthusiast and Beatles aficionado, Tommy “Rocks” Anderson, played the Town of Clarkdale’s Concert in the Park series as Tommy Rocks the Beatles on Saturday, Aug. 9.
Anderson grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota where the radio only picked up AM and a few obscure FM stations. Luckily he was able to tune into a Chicago station, getting his first taste of Steely Dan, Todd Rundgren and others now on the “Time-Life Hits of the ’70s” compilations.
“Aside from me listening in my bedroom, there was no music in our home,” Anderson said. At age 15, his friends turned him onto the likes of Frank Zappa, Yes and Ted Nugent.
After high school, Anderson joined the U.S. Army and traded in his motorcycle for his first electric guitar. He auditioned for his first band while stationed in Anchorage, Alaska. He was told that he was terrible on guitar, and got put on the bass.
“After getting out of the Army, I started playing with lots of musicians, picked up some studio gigs, and got a job at a local music store,” Anderson said. “Funny how your past becomes your future. I still ride motorcycles, still play guitar and now I own a music store.”
Anderson moved to Phoenix in 1992 where he received his bachelor’s and master’s from Arizona State University. He taught high school English for nearly 20 years before moving to the Verde Valley in 2014.
He fell in love with Jerome after having discovered it on a pilgrimage to see Major Lingo, his favorite band.
“After playing regular gigs in Jerome and Prescott, it only seemed normal to move here,” Anderson said. “Everything started dropping into place and I realized that this was the time and the place to move on from teaching and become a full-time musician.”
Anderson opened his music store, Tommy Rocks, in Jerome in July 2014.
“I sold my first ukulele at 10:15 a.m. the day I opened it, to Ron and Georgia Traver,” Anderson said. “They had just moved here and wanted to come to my store opening day. They were my very first customers, and they’re still great friends to this day.”
Anderson wanted to have a music store that didn’t cater only to musicians, but was an all-around music lover’s store with albums, T-shirts and music memorabilia alongside a vast inventory of ukuleles. Anderson also owns a recording studio and stays busy gigging at least 100 nights a year.
Anderson bought his first ukulele for $10 through Craigslist, and couldn’t put it down. While stuck in traffic driving to work one day, he pulled out his ukulele and wrote a song that made him famous, “It’s Party Time,” all while steering with his knee, crawling at 10 mph on his way to North High School.
In January 2015, Anderson formed the Jerome Ukulele Orchestra, brought ukuleles and chord charts to The Bordello in Jerome. Most people had never touched a ukulele before, but were able to play a few songs by the end of the night. Anderson said it was an instant hit. By the end of February, the group was performing at the Spirit Room.
A video of Anderson covering Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” on ukulele got picked up by “America’s Got Talent.” He and 20 others went to Los Angeles to audition, making it through two levels with Anderson getting on the cover of “Ukulele Magazine.”
Anderson later formed the Sedona Ukulele Posse.
“My goal is to get the whole world playing ukulele,” Anderson said. “It is a greatly underrated instrument that has great potential. After all, it is a thing with strings: The only limitation on the instrument is what you believe you can do with it.”
Outside of his ukulele stardom, Anderson is also known as “The Beatles Guy” in Arizona. He was playing at a club in downtown Phoenix around the time that George Harrison died on Nov. 29, 2001. He covered a handful of Harrison’s songs, which brought the audience to tears. He then got some people together to do a Harrison tribute show on the anniversary of his death a few years later.
Thinking that it was just a one-off, the bar owner asked him to rethink. Realizing that John Lennon’s birthday was around the corner, they decided to play a night of only Lennon covers, resulting in the band Ringo McLennonSon.
Anderson has since formed multiple Beatles cover bands, including The Beatless and B3. The latest rendition, Tommy Rocks the Beatles, features Anderson on guitar and vocals, Kyle Scarborough on keys and vocals, Pablo Richards on bass and vocals, Gabriel Rhodes on drums and vocals, Kevin Crum on guitar and vocals and Dale Schold on backing vocals.
Anderson has over 235 Beatles songs in his repertoire. He joked that while everyone knows all the lyrics and can easily sing along, it also means the audience knows if he strikes a wrong chord.
The Jerome Ukulele Orchestra will play the Jerome Music and Arts Festival on Sunday, Sept. 28, and Tommy Rocks will play the Jerome Humane Society Fundraiser on Sunday, Oct. 12.
For a full list of upcoming shows, visit tommyrocks.net.
