"Tom Boy" was inspired by my ten year old daughter, Angella, who'd asked if I would write a song for her whilst working on material for Fire and Gasoline. In a distracted moment I said yes, I would, and immediately regretted making this promise, because I realized I'd trapped myself. What on earth would I possibly write that wouldn't be sappy as heck?

I've always felt that the best songs write themselves. There is something inherently magical when a song idea arrives in your psyche almost fully formed and gets stuck there. When this happens, I almost feel like I should give writing credit to someone else, some spiritual force, some Bob Dylan in the cosmos. Well, "Tom Boy" was one of those experiences for me.
A few nights later, while getting ready for bed, the chorus and first verse literally landed in my head like a lightning bolt (thank you Lord!). I ran for my phone (I must say that iPhone memo feature has become my best friend) to record the melody and words. Over the next week, while vacationing, I fine tuned the lyrics and wrote the bridge section on my acoustic guitar by the lake. By the end of the week everyone was singing it, ha, ha... so I knew I was on to something.

"Tom Boy" was initially inspired by the free-spirited energy and spitfire attitude that young girls have before they hit their teen years and start becoming self conscious. There's purity there, idealism about the world and a real love and acceptance of themselves that I adore. They're in touch with their truest selves and aren't yet weighed down with the trappings of a photo shopped 'beauty culture' that our media foists upon young women. My daughter, of course, is a tom boy and completely comfortable in her own skin. I was a tom boy growing up too (still am actually) so there were a lot of connections for me too. I asked Angella to contribute her own ideas to the song, hence the lines: "don't girlie, girl me," "I'd rather shoot and arrow than have a tea party," and "I'm not into fuchsia..."

The rhythm and changes in the song lent itself really well to fun, precocious word play, so I had a blast writing the lyrics. The geek in me had always wanted to fit 'quantum physics' into a song somewhere and finally I had a chance to do it.

The video features Angella on guitar and her school friends as the backing band. I loved the idea of doing a modern emulation of Elvis' Jailhouse Rock video with school girls. The girls totally rose to the challenge and gave amazing performances brimming with pre-teen, sassy attitude.

Songs often evolve, and it became apparent after a while that "Tom Boy" had taken on a life of its own. The song had a much more universal theme - one of individual empowerment for anyone feeling pressured to conform to a persona that wasn't authentic for whatever reason: societal, religious or parental pressure. "Tom Boy" is meant to be a positive message to young girls but even more so, it's a shout out to all of us who want to be loved and accepted for who we really are. I hope that's the message that really resonates.