At the age of thirteen Ian Thomas Alexy picked up the guitar with the earnest intention of playing rock and roll. His parents had artistic leanings and encouraged Ian to pursue his musical dreams which he did. At first he thought he would just be a rhythm guitarist like Izzy Stradlin in his favorite band Guns N Roses.
After a few years of rocking on the guitar Ian discovered the music of Neil Young and Bob Dylan and he began to sing and write songs. Over the next several years Ian developed his skills as a writer, singer and an instrumentalist.
When he was 19 Ian attended Boston’s Berklee College of music for a year before transferring to the radical liberal arts school Goddard, which is nestled in the woods of central Vermont. During this time he spent a semester in West Africa traveling and taking guitar and drum lessons along the way.
Ian is the kind of musician that can not only write and sing songs but is also an accomplished guitarist and instrumentalist that can approach his songs from many different angles. To be able to play those different roles is a lost art that is only continued by old troubadours like Willie Nelson, and a small group of young songwriters.
Doug MacRostie, of KAXE radio in Grand Rapids, writes: “occasionally someone steps up and delivers beyond a single track. Ian Thomas Alexy recently released Are You Listening, a masterful EP that continues to reveal his musical genius and creative mind. Channeling the muse of several musical styles, but strictly adhering to none of them, Ian is the kind of genuine songwriter you recognize instantly and ‘know’ without meeting.
Known for both his work as a solo artist, and with the national-touring americana roots duo Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank, Ian Thomas Alexy has had a total of seven releases since relocating to Minnesota and starting CIC Records in 2004 with his brother and bandmate Teague Alexy. Ian Thomas Alexy has toured the country many times over with Hobo Nephews and as a solo artist. He is currently working on an introspective solo recording about his birthday, which is on All Saints Day, and the first Day Of The Dead, November 1st.
