TONY BUTTON

From New York, works mainly Ocean City, but has worked most of the pitches up and down east coast to the bottom of Florida.

I first saw Tony workin the boardwalk in Ocean City last year. I had noticed him workin in small spots for people walking by and pitchin bills into his hat on the ground.

The first thing I noticed was his work ethic, he would play and sing his heart out for 8-10 hours a day. Even after the hurricane evacuation he was back on the pitch a day later.

He was livin out of his car and travelin the coast. Livin the dream.

So I made it a point to meet him. And as it has always been in my life the best have always been humble. He was especially respectful for a young guy to me and this blew me away because of his talent. So since then I have watched his progress and he now hangs with some of the biggest names in the street scene and his work has gotten even better.

Even though he’s humble about his work don’t let that mislead you, his act is a powerful and charismatic act that has a lot of street grit to it. This keeps the street thugs at bay and the tourists and locals lovin him.

He does original songs he has written. One day he discussed his strategy and artistic process to me and some old veterans and we were blown away at how brilliant it was. This of course comes from all the hours he puts in every day. Tony Button is a fanatic about his work, which is unusual to see in someone his age, he already has worked out a lot of the problems that takes buskers a life time sometimes to even figure out.

A lot of the old legends hang with him out of pure respect for his talent and work ethic; also he’s a good friend.

The thing about Tony is he is a true sidewalk guy because he can bang out a living in any condition. Bad weather and regulations bounce off him because he is a small self-contained act that can play anywhere.

Tony is the future of sidewalk performing.

He’s easy to book because of his talent and he is a great example of how you can be a success if you do what you love and do it all the time.

if you bounce around youtube looking for him you'll see him on different pitches through out the country.

here's a good song;