Tom Spielbauer is a guitarist playing in a delta blues style who plays a foot drum and slide guitar in the style of musicians such as Elmore James and R.L. Burnside. He is a prolific songwriter and is known for playing boot-stompin blues boogie as the lead player in the Iowa roots band Cedar County Cobras and recently has played as a solo act in Clarksdale, Mississippi and several Midwest venues and festivals. He is also the winner of the 2022 Iowa Blues Challenge and a semi-finalist at the 2023 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. With over twenty years of playing blues and rock n’ roll across Iowa and the Midwest, the authentic sound of his music comes from a career of pouring concrete and working construction. In 2005, Tom was diagnosed with advanced macular degeneration at a young age and declared legally blind. Following in the footsteps of blind blues musicians such as Blind Willie McTell & Alan Wilson, he eventually traded his concrete tools for a guitar and a foot drum to play the blues full time. 

To contact Tom directly about a solo show you can reach him at porchbuildermusic@gmail.com or 319-471-7581.