Thomas John Lewis (born 16 April 1943) is a British singer and writer of nautical songs and sea shanties,[1][2] some of whose works have become "folk standards.
[4] At the club he was exposed to the works of folk artists such as Archie Fisher, Alex Glasgow, Ewan MacColl, Tom Paxton, and Louis Killen.
[1] Lewis has travelled hundreds of thousands of miles in cars and motor homes while touring in Australia, Britain, Canada, and the United States.
[9][4] His songs cover a variety of topics ranging from the life of sailors onboard ships, the attraction and loneliness of the sea, to "traditional shanties and classic nautical poetry set to music.
[1] Surfacing was well received, with Geoff Butler in Canadian Folk Music calling the album "the sharpest collection of contemporary sea shanties I have ever run across.
"[8] A number of Lewis's songs have been said to deserve a "permanent place in the nautical repertoire,"[17] with his voice reminding former sailors of the "diesel engines (they have) also left behind—instant power and off with a full head of steam.