Mick Thomas' two-for-one tour of Tasmania

Victorian singer-songwriter Mick Thomas has rewritten the touring textbook by travelling the country with not one but two new works - a record and a book. 

Nearly 20 years after wrapping up folk rock band Weddings Parties Anything, Thomas will visit Hobart for two separate shows promoting the compilation album These Are The Songs and his autobiography These Are The Days.

Thomas said while the book launch would feature some live music, his autobiography would not play a major role at the live show. 

“They’re two distinctly different gigs so it should be good fun,” Thomas said. 

“The dedicated things that are around the book, they’re really fun because when people are coming along to a book launch any music they get is a bonus. 

“But it’s sort of almost the opposite if you’re at a gig, you’ve got to be careful about how much book stuff you do because people want to have a beer and bounce around a bit.” 

Released earlier this year, These Are The Songs showcases a selection of 23 songs from Thomas’ 18-year solo career.

The 57-year-old said the album had been created partially to give new and returning fans an easy entry point into his solo work. 

“A lot of people that follow me are people who are coming back to my stuff after some years of going off, having children and having a different life, so after 10 or 15 years, they see that you’re playing somewhere and they come back.

“I wanted to have that record that if someone said ‘I haven’t seen you play since the Weddings played in my town in 1993, what (album) should I buy?’, I can say ‘buy this one, it’s got 20 tracks on it, you’re bound to have heard six of them tonight and if you come tomorrow you’ll hear a different six off that’.

“So these are the songs that have really floated my boat post-Weddings.”

The book launch will be held at Hobart Gaol at 6.30pm on May 25, where Thomas will perform alongside The Roving Commission’s Squeezebox Wally and Ayleen Hanlon.

Thomas will then play live at the Grand Poobah on May 26 with support from the Christopher Coleman Collective.