Check Out Trevor Toms’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Trevor Toms.

Hi Trevor, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I have been singing and playing music my whole life, starting in the church choir and school musicals. In middle school, I was given an acoustic guitar and a tape recorder and would spend evenings writing original songs as a way to avoid schoolwork. When I got to high school, I was invited to sing in a garage band with some classmates and ended up leading that group to perform a variety of shows from birthday parties, to the battle of the band’s competitions, to bar gigs and even our graduation day school assembly.

College found me performing in a heavy rock/metal band for two years until my focus on music wavered. I took several years away from writing and performing music until I reconnected with an old bandmate, Tony Goffredi, back in Denver who wanted to put together an acoustic rock duo, called One Way Ride, to play the bars at night. We also started a trio called Fortunate Son to help fill the long three and four-hour bar sets and we spent several years performing in the heart of the city. One Way Ride became a trio, then a quartet, and finally a seven-piece soul rock and roll band, growing artistically as we grew our fanbase and performed all over the state.

We recorded three albums during that time, and I began my solo career, returning to writing by myself and playing solo shows at all of the places we had made relationships with as a band. Eventually, managing a seven-piece band became too challenging as everyone was headed in their own direction, and I made plans to leave Denver for a full-time music career in another city with bigger opportunities. On Halloween of 2021, I sold most of what I owned, loaded my truck, and headed to Nashville with a dream and a head full of steam.

It is here that I am finding my way through the wild roller-coaster ride that is a career in entertainment. Surrounded by so many talented and inspiring people, I am growing and changing faster than I could have imagined. But that is what it takes, the community of friends, mentors, and competitors that made me who I am.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Working in the entertainment industry is never a smooth road. Besides the usual stories about creative differences between bandmates, playing for pennies, road-trip tour disasters, and moments of self-doubt, I have really had to work to be where I am.

The biggest challenge was giving up my career in the landscape design and construction industry, a place of security and consistency, for the uncertainty of singing for my supper. That said, I am truly fortunate to have the undying support of family, friends, and fans that have made this life possible.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I could not live with the feeling that I was just going through the motions in this life, and decided that creating art is my higher calling, a tool to really connect with humanity. My purpose is to create music that creates a voice for people. If I can connect with the hearts and minds of people and help them to feel recognized, then I am successful.

My music is mostly stories of love, loss, and seeing through to the heart of the matter, but what people immediately recognize me for is my haunting harmonica melodies. There are surprisingly few musicians in Nashville that play the harmonica, and I am finding a niche performing with other bands, and creating haunting, uplifting, or ruckus harmonica lines over my own original songs.

It seems that many artists in this town write and perform a prescriptive, pale brand of music that fits well on commercial radio, but I am striving for something deeper, more powerful, and that comes through in my storytelling.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The music industry has changed dramatically over the past 5-10 years, and one can only imagine it will continue to change and grow. I think that we will see more shows and artists find successful careers with dedicated fans that don’t necessarily fit the old definition of “commercial success.”

Now consumers can find exactly what they want to listen to and don’t have to rely on commercial channels to access the art they want to engage with. Hard to say how pay structures for the music industry will change, but I suspect it will always hinge on live performances.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.trevortoms.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trevordtoms/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrevorDToms/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLGiFNyDnwyDgUkgA4axS5g
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/trevortoms
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/49RNPop1c18H9wGLxrIg21?si=C0HPFgQFR2GXzryE8f0zKw

Image Credits
Austin J. Dellamano, Jourdan Elongoria, and Tim Kirby