Tom Farley

About Tom Farley

Thomas R. (Tom) Farley is a lifelong resident of Southeast Virginia....married to Tania Farley since 1976. He was a teacher for Chesapeake Public Schools from 1973-2004, and, an Adjunct Professor at Virginia Wesleyan University from 1986-2014. His Bachelor’s degree is from Virginia Tech with a major in English and minors in History, Theater, and Education; his Masters in Education (MSEd) degree is from Old Dominion University.

On the musical side, he was the owner of Alum Ridge Music (1982-2005) and Farley Music Services (2015 to the present)...both music publication, licensing, and audio service companies. As a local music artist, he has performed since 1975 as a solo artist and with several successful musical groups including

The Herndon-Edwards Band;
Cimarron;
The Tom Farley-Cam Head Band,
The Tom Farley Band, and
The High Energy Acoustics Band

He has written, performed, engineered, co-engineered, mastered, published, and produced the following popular recordings:

Songsmyth (1982),
The Calm Before the Storm (1991),
Songsmyth and the Basement Cuts (2000),
Over the Falls (2006),
High Energy Acoustics - The Tom Farley Collection (2006),
By the Fence in the Sun (2016),
The Calm Before the Storm: Remastered Silver Anniversary Edition (2016),
the single Free Me - A Song About Addiction (2017),
the single About the Giving (2017),
Songsmyth Remastered (2017),
Over the Falls Remastered (2017),
the single Ten and Fourteen (2017),
The High Energy Acoustics Band: First Take - Live at Steel Pier Cafe (2017),
Renaissance Man (2019)

Theme Compilations

Tom Farley - The Instrumentals (2016),
Tom Farley: Fingers and Strings (2017),
Tom Farley: Reflections, and
Tom Farley: Solos and Duets in the Studio

and special "Musician Showcase" compilations for the following artists:

Musician Showcase: Tania Farley
Musician Showcase: Steve Gallagher
Musician Showcase: Donnie Satterwhite
Musician Showcase: Greg Wikle
Musician Showcase: The Herndon Edwards Band
Musician Showcase: Cam Head
Musician Showcase: Peter Shonerd

...all of which can be fully previewed for free, downloaded, and/or streamed through the Farley Music and Art web site, iTunes, Amazon, You Tube, Napster (Rhapsody), Spotify, Tidal, SoundCloud, Apple, CD Baby, Reverbnation, Google Music, and other global download and streaming sites.

He garnered two Hampton Roads Music Awards from Port Folio Magazine. He was the first ever to win the Best Acoustic Musician Award (1983) and followed that with the Best Rhythm Guitarist Award (1987) .

Tom and his bands have opened for a variety of groups including Poco, Firefall, and Bruce Hornsby and the Range.

​Tom and musician Greg Wikle garnered The World Songwriting Awards "Best Song Collaboration" award in 2019 for the song "Better with Age".

In 2019, Tom and Alton Riddick began SEVA Sound: a company dedicated to the development and marketing of music products and services from Southeast Virginia...beginning with multi-instrumental Loop Libraries and Rights Managed Standard and Enhanced Music Licensing. With an ever-present objective of monetizing the creative and original talents of and for the many artists from Southeast Virginia, SEVA Sound will develop a community of artists and published works that will represent and showcase the collective sound of Southeast Virginia: "Our Home...Our Sound...SEVA Sound."

Also..in 2019 Tom has been nominated for three awards by ISSA: The International Singer-Songwriters Association. The awards ceremony will be in Atlanta on August 3, 2019.

Male Songwriter of the Year
Video of the Year - Free Me
Mixing and Sound Engineer of the Year

In July, 2019, Tom and Greg Wikle won the "Best Song Collaboration" Award from The World Songwriting Awards for the acoustic multi-instrumental recording "Better with Age".

His 30 years of public school teaching were all in the Chesapeake Public Schools system. He taught Honors World History, World History, (expired link). History, Honors (expired link). History, AP (expired link). History, English, Creative Writing, and Current Issues at Indian River Junior High (1975-1991), Indian River High School (1973-1974; 1991-1996), and Hickory High School (1996-2004). He was the first Social Studies Department Chair at Hickory High School,...and has won Teacher of the Year at IRJHS (1988), DAR History Teacher of the Year (2003), and was renowned as a leader in promoting and implementing technology in the classroom. The Special Education internet software - "EasyIEP" - (currently owned by PCG, Inc.) - was developed and built by Soft Pubs, Inc...a company created and staffed by Tom and his brother...and is the top educational software of its kind being sold in the United States.

He expanded his education resume and experience as a professor and administrator at Virginia Wesleyan University for over 28 years (1986-2014), He is the retired Director of the Adult Studies Program (2009-2014) and Program Development Coordinator K-12 (2005-2014). He is also a retired VWU adjunct professor, teaching evening classes for over 23 years. His courses were Physical Geography, Cultural Geography, and Human Geography (GEOG 111, 112 and 113), Secondary Education (Social Studies) Methods (EDUC 375), and Technology for Teaching (EDUC 301) - all designed, developed, and taught by Tom for Virginia Wesleyan University. In the area of public school teacher support, he developed the VWU National Board Certified Teachers Support Center - advancing the public awareness and support for National Board Certification candidates in Southeast Virginia.

Always a believer and proponent of educational technology, he has been a facilitator for several summer technology workshops (GeoTech) sponsored by Microsoft, National Geographic, Virginia Geographic Alliance, Old Dominion University and WHRO Public Television. He has been published in the Virginia Geographer, Odyssey of the Mind, Who's Who Among American Teachers, and has had numerous newspaper articles covering his teaching and musical career.

In the area of business, he is the former President of Soft Pubs Incorporated, makers of Educational and IEP Internet Database software. The flagship of the Soft Pubs' line was Easy IEP®, an internet database for compiling, manipulating, and querying Special Education IEP's and their data. It is currently being sold by PCG, Inc. and is the top selling special education software in the country. It is currently being utilized by school systems and districts nationwide....including Charlotte-Mecklinburg, Boston, Newark, Houston, Danville, Broward County, Dallas, The District of Columbia, Illinois Cooperatives and Districts, Minneapolis, the State of Tennessee, Philadelphia, Chicago, and hundreds of city, county, and independent school districts across the nation.

As co-founder and former President of Soft Pubs, Inc., he has been responsible for contributing to the design, help section development, and training development for all Soft Pubs’ products including Easy IEP, Laser Director, The Student Assistant for (expired link). History, and The (expired link). History Primary Source Documents Collection.