Written by Jim Bille
May 04, 2014 at 08:00 PM
ImageTom Jones, the 60’s heart throb is still making the ladies swoon and he proved it at the Houston House of Blues earlier this month.

Jones, now in his early 70’s still has the voice and a few of the moves left and he appears to still love making the music which was pretty evident at this show. 

This tour features a more stripped down band without horns or orchestration. Instead Jones is accompanied by a quartet that was quite capable of filling in all the sound needed to accompany those classic Tom Jones vocals and a few of his classic hits.

I say a few of his hits because that’s about all he performed. 

 Jones is known universally for songs like “What’s New Pussycat”, “She’s a Lady” and “Daughter of Darkness” but this show was not a greatest hits production. Instead Jones concentrated more on his newer material from his latest releases “Praise and Blame” and “Spirit in the Room”. 

ImageJones musical swing performance included a diverse repertoire of different styles. Songs by Hank Williams to Billy Joe Shaver, Blind Willie Johnson to John Lee Hooker and Richard Thompson to Tom Waits were all featured. 

But when he did do some of the hits the packed house, especially the underwear armed women, got giddy. I mention underwear armed women because they showed up loaded for bear, or in this case loaded for Tom and would fling, snap and pelt Jones and anyone in the line of fire with doily fringed skivvies every time the band would perform one of the hits. 

“Delilah” started out with a sinister sound that appropriately fit the number. With lyrics like “I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more” this song was never really about love but more about revenge. Another Jones classic “It’s Not Unusual” featured an accordion accompany that gave the song a kind of Cajun flavor.”Thunderball”, from the James Bond movie of the same name was also featured as one of the encore numbers. 

 Tom Jones and his “Hear Me Out” tour is on the road and is a not to be missed event. New songs, oldies and the crazy women panty pelters made for a fantastic and entertaining evening at the House of Blues so be sure to check this show out if you have the chance.