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his father, he entered talent contests, and his
band played at teen dances in the Fort
Meyers, Florida area. He progressed in skill
from band to band, finally opening locally
for touring groups like the Allman
Brothers.
After chasing jobs back and forth between
Florida and southern California, with
little success, Thomas realized he had to live
where the work was, and settled in Los
Angeles. "My wife and I drove out with the
promise of two weeks worth of work at a
little place in Marina Del Rey; that was it.
Luckily, she found work and helped
support us for a year. I couldn't find work,
though, and we moved back to Florida
with my tail between my legs." The lack of
opportunity in Florida soon convinced the
Thomases to take another shot at making it in
Los Angeles. Thomas worked with
some groups that didn't pan out, struggled to
find session work, and ended up
driving a furniture delivery truck. Finally, an
audition with the Hudson Brothers led
to a touring gig. Between session work and his
sideman gig, Thomas learned the
importance of professionalism: responsibility,
punctuality, preparedness, and the
ability to convincingly play different styles
of music. After several years of touring and
recording with the Hudsons, he put in several
more years with Rick Nelson's Stone
Canyon Band, and then with Mac
Davis.
Realizing that Los Angeles was no place to
raise children, Thomas moved his
family to Nashville, where he quickly found
work. "Our furniture had not arrived
from Los Angeles. We were living in a little
rental and I got a call from a guy in Los
Angeles who was looking for me to sing on a
record. I got to the session and the other
singer was Vince Gill. We sang together for two
days, hit it off, and on the second day
he asked if I played any instruments." As it
turned out, Gill was looking for a
drummer and Thomas ended up filling the slot.
He performed on the road with Gill,
and did session work with Marty Stuart, Emmylou
Harris, and others. Thomas went
out on the road with Harris before being signed
as an artist with the band McBride &
the Ride.
When his five-year contract with McBride was
up, Thomas left the group to
return to recording and touring with Vince
Gill. Between gigs with Gill, Thomas is in
constant demand, both as a studio drummer and
as a backup singer. "The thing that
has always given me a little edge when it came
down to getting jobs is that I have two
talents I can bring to the table: singing and
playing drums." Thomas has become a
triple threat adding songwriting to his list of
talents. He and Gill co-wrote "Nothin'
Left To Say," which was released on Gill's
four-CD set These Days. Thomas also makes
time to play with the 1970s pop group The
Little River Band.
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