Dustin Thomas has a family history of music that sparked his love for the blues.
I saw Thomas’ show in Chillicothe, Missouri back in May when he played at R Bar. His full band show rocked the roof off of that small bar! Covering blues classics that built up the genre that would one day be called rock-n-roll and covering some classic rock, Thomas was met with an ecstatic crowd.
I interviewed Thomas before the show to learn who he is as a musician, how he got into the blues, and what is next for him as an artist.
Thomas’ love for music was inherited from his parents.
“My parents were really into music growing up. They had a great big record collection; there was always music in our house all the time. Everything from The Rolling Stones to Patsy Cline to Hank Williams to everything in between, just all kinds of music,” Thomas said.
“My dad had an old Silvertone guitar when I was about eight or nine. He used to keep it by the couch, and he started taking guitar lessons. When he was gone, I would pick up the guitar and noodle around on it. I showed a lot of interest and kept playing his guitar. So he asked me if I wanted to take guitar lessons. At the time, he couldn’t afford guitar lessons for both of us, so he quit and I started taking them.
“Within a short period of time, my teacher noticed that I just kind of had a knack for it. I just never put it down. It became a passion.”
A trinity of albums came next in building Thomas’ passion for music.
“When I was about ten or eleven, my dad’s friend brought over three albums – Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Texas Flood, Robert Cray’s Strong Persuader, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Tuff Enuff. I just listened to the albums, and I don’t know but something about the blues just grabbed me. I just submersed myself in it. I would come home from school and sit in my room with an old tape recorder; I would just rewind everything and learn for hours and hours.
“It just came to become my escape, a peaceful place where I could go just to relax.”
As Thomas’ love for music started to blossom, he started to put himself out there more as a musician.
“I kept on taking lessons and started going to Kansas City and St. Louis, where they had Mid-American Music Association contests. Every year, I’d go and compete, play some songs for judges. I did that for about four or five years. Every time I’d go and do well, my dad would buy me a guitar.”
When Thomas was fourteen years old, he met one of his greatest influences Stevie Ray Vaughan.
“When I was fourteen years old, I got to sit down with Stevie Ray Vaughan. He actually gave me a ticket and backstage pass. It said, ‘To Dustin, play on.’ I got to meet his whole band and hang out with the guys after the show. It literally just changed my life.”
Influence-wise, Thomas is inspired by a melting pot of different genres.
“It’s a wide variety as far as genres, I’ve really played it all,” Thomas said. “I have a passion and love for the blues – Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Robert Cray, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmy Vaughan, Doyle Bramhall, Eric Gales. I mean the list goes on and on – Eric Clapton, Albert King, Freddie King.
“My dad used to take me to all these concerts. Like B.B. King gave me the pin off of his lapel and handed it to me, put it right in my hand. I shook hands with Albert King when I was fifteen years old in Kansas City at Spiritfest. I shook hands with Buddy Guy, Jimmy Vaughan and most of the famous blues musicians. Most of them have passed now, but I got a chance to shake hands and speak to musicians who helped me define myself as an artist.
“And I’ve always liked classic rock. My mom said that the first words to ever come out of my mouth were Steve Miller. You know, of course, I love Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and Bob Seger. Just anything classic rock and anything blues.
“I even went through a period where I was listening to Pantera a lot and I just absorbed it.
“I do a lot of country music as well. My daughter is a big country fan; I took her to see Blake Shelton and stuff like that. But my passion ultimately is in the blues.”
This melting pot of influences allows for Thomas’ songwriting to not be constricted but instead have freedom to go into different directions.
“When I write music, it’s odd because I can write a song and it’ll be country. Then an hour later, I’ll start something else, and it will sound like blues, or it might sound like rock. So I decided to just call it Americana music, for my genre.”
Thomas started a band in 2000 that played until 2012. This helped him find his own voice as a musician.
“We had a pretty good amount of success; we had a booking agent and some really good people to back us up. We travelled and played in some of these national clubs.
“We got to this club called Blues On Grand. We played some Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan that night. Afterwards, I went up to the owner, and I asked him what he thought, if he would want us back.
“And he said, ‘Dustin, you are an excellent guitar player. Buddy Guy was just in here Saturday night and did the same song. Come back when you have something Dustin Thomas has to say. And that just kind of floored me.”
Thomas’ original music has become his main focus. An earlier band of his released an album in the early 2000s, and he wants to get back into recording music.
“I’m trying to establish myself now as a recording artist – get established and cut another record. I cut a CD and had a couple originals with some covers of others songs. But through those years playing with my band, I never really had a chance to sit down and express what Dustin Thomas has to offer.
“I worked a job because I had a child, and that really kept me playing because of my daughter. Just about every night, lying in bed, I’d be thinking: I gained a wide amount of success in a short period of time, and I was only giving about 60%. So in the back of my mind, it kept eating at me. I thought, ‘I don’t think I can lay on my deathbed and be satisfied if I don’t try this one more time and give it 100%. If I give it 100% and if I fail, I can deal with that and accept it.
“I ended up representing the Muddy Water Blues Society out of Quincy for the International Blues Challenge. I got to open for a lot of people – Chris Duarte, Jimbo Mathus, Bernard Allison, Ronnie Baker Brooks, and the list goes on.”
Ultimately, what started as a childhood love for the blues has grown into a lifelong passion that allowed Dustin Thomas to find his voice.
“There would be no rock ‘n’ roll if there had not been Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon or Elvis Presley. And there wouldn’t be any rap. The blues is ultimately the basis of all other music.
It’s just something I love about the emotion. It’s emotional; it’s passionate; it’s physical. It just allows me to speak. The blues allows me to channel my emotions and feelings. Most of the time, I’m a pretty quiet guy, you know, if you don’t know me or if I haven’t had alcohol, I’m pretty quiet. But the blues gave me a voice.”