Tim DeLaughter (born 18 November 1965 in Dallas, Texas), is a singer and songwriter. He has gained attention as the energetic frontman for both Tripping Daisy and later, The Polyphonic Spree.
Following the break-up of Tripping Daisy, and prior to the formation of The Polyphonic Spree, DeLaughter opened the record store Good Records located on Lower Greenville in Dallas. Since 2001, DeLaughter has toured extensively with his new band, and has collaborated with acts such as Stereolab, Death in Vegas, Peter Gabriel and David Bowie. He scored the music for the film, Thumbsucker. The soundtrack to that film was released on September 13, 2005.
He was heavily influenced by the death of Tripping Daisy's lead guitarist, Wes Berggren. Though he was raised somewhat religiously, DeLaughter says he
started finding religion in other things that had nothing to do with the church—it was more the environment, trees and sun and weather and, you know. I found that my prosperity is through the growth of the environment, the trees and stuff. It’s weird—I see, like, the asphalt and there’s a little patch of grass that grows up in that asphalt and cars are going over it daily. We’ve all seen it, and it’s the worst environment for anything to grow, but that patch of grass that’s growing there in the middle of that asphalt with cars rolling over it somehow makes an enormous amount of sense to me. So I find a lot of religion in that as well. It’s an interesting path I’ve been on, but there again, you know, there’s my hope all over again. I think we’re all there in the same place, it’s just a different way of looking at it.
DeLaughter provided the theme song for the 2009 series United States of Tara on Showtime.
DeLaughter also composed the score for the 2008 film Visioneers.
On October 10, 2010, rumors surfaced on The Polyphonic Spree Forum about Tim's involvement in a new side project. The band is called Preteen Zenith and made its debut at the Gorilla Vs. Bear Festival on July 23, 2011.
DeLaughter is married to Julie Doyle. They have four children.