Bluesman Tom McFarland dies at 59

TACOMA — Tom McFarland, a well-traveled blues shouter, guitar player and composer who placed a vital role in reviving Seattle’s blues scene in the 1970s, is dead at age 59.

McFarland, who performed with such blues greats as Charlie Musselwhite, Otis Rush and Isaac Scott, died in his sleep early Friday at home in West Valley, Utah, said his son, Thomas Riley McFarland of Tacoma.

He had been unable to play for five years because of health problems, including an enlarged heart, and had a stroke six months ago, friends and relatives said.

McFarland’s signature tune was “Going Back to Oakland,” recorded in 1987 on the album “Just Got In From Portland.” His other albums were “Voodoo Garden” and the highly regarded “Travelin’ With the Blues,” recorded in 1978.

McFarland was born in Los Angeles, grew up in Grants Pass, Ore., came to Seattle in 1973, and soon had the only blues band to get steady work in the city at the time.

He later lived in San Francisco; Tacoma; Vancouver, Wash., Clinton, Miss.; Terre Haute, Ind.; Spokane, and the Salt Lake City area.