Rising Stars: Meet Thomas Burns Scully

Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Burns Scully. 

Hi Thomas, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I am an accidental music journalist and musician copywriter. I arrived in the States to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. I’m British by nationality but grew up in the Sultanate of Oman. When I graduated, I began working as an actor, but also pursued my other interests, specifically writing and music. I eventually married the writing and performing by becoming a theatre reviewer, first for OnStage, and then for Popdust. At a certain point, Popdust decided that they no longer wanted to cover theatre, which was a shame, and asked me if I wanted to write about music instead. I agreed and suddenly found myself covering people in the Nashville scene and making friends and contacts, in the world of Nashville music and PR. Before I knew it, I was being hired by artists to write bios and press releases for them. It was a little overwhelming at first, I got into the swing of it. The more I worked with artists, the more I started to realize common threads and frustrations that musicians were experiencing, and also began to experience my own frustrations as a journalist with how artists are discovered and written about these days. So recently I’ve taken matters into my own hands and am cultivating a TikTok channel where I’m trying to rework how we learn about and experience new music. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Plenty of struggles. The biggest one for me personally is time management. I love writing and talking about and playing music, but that’s not the only hat I wear. I never stopped being an actor, I still work regularly. Music is not my only writing gig; I freelance regularly in a variety of media. Then there’s balancing passion projects that don’t pay (or pay very little) with my higher-paying (but not necessarily creatively fulfilling) gigs, and on top of that trying to have a social life… there’s a lot going on. I am very aware that I have a stupid busy schedule and some might say I spread myself thin… that’s probably more true than I want to believe. However, I really believe in what I’m doing, and I resent being told that my life would be easier if I just picked one thing and stuck to it. I heard members of the band Kasabian once say “Pigeon holes are for pigeons”, and I think that’s kind of me. I don’t like to be told to be one thing. No disrespect to pigeons though. The other big obstacle has been the music industry and music journalism as a whole and the, I think, short-sightedness of a lot of common standards and practices. There’s an over-reliance on numbers and metrics and I really want to remind people in the industry that the music is what should come first. People making music and releasing it are taking big risks, and we as people who judge them need to be respectful of the vulnerability, they expose themselves to, that we hiding behind numbers and column inches don’t. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an actor, writer, musician, and journalist. A multi-hyphenate. I specialize in doing too much. My resume is a wild ride. I was in the TV show Broad City for a couple of episodes. I was a haunted house performer for a while. I designed an escape room once for the beer company Anheuser-Busch which we demoed at SXSW and then toured around Ivy League campuses. I write artist bios for rising Country Music stars. I regularly do improv. I helped write a movie that got made in China. I’ve played music at the Hard Rock Cafe Times Square. I’m currently developing a TV pilot with a friend who worked on Mare of Easttown. I’m a newly started music review TikToker. I’ve composed music for the stage that’s been complemented by the New York Times, Neil Gaiman, and Amanda Palmer. I’ve bartended and waited tables. I helped run a nail salon… I’m proud of most of it. Since we’re talking Nashville, I suppose I should focus on the music. I guess I’m most proud of the fact that I’m really trying to make music about music and not numbers. I still have to know and understand how the numbers work (which opinion is a lot more divided over than I think people like to admit), but there is so much music out there, and finding a way to give more visibility to artists who really deserve it, no matter how big or how niche, feels good to do. That’s also I guess what sets me apart. That and I’ve been told I write some of the best pull quotes in the business, which is always a nice compliment to get. 

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Being a workhorse. Working on the damn thing until it’s done. Trying to work as efficiently as possible but at the same time never sacrificing the integrity of any given project for the sake of speed. That and trying to treat everyone like how I wish people would treat me. Caring about people and what they are doing beyond the shallow lens of social media numbers, Spotify streams, or playlist placements. If you’re good you’re good and you deserve to be noticed and have nice things said about you. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: thomasburnsscully.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/drthomasdbs
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThomasBurnsScully
• Twitter: twitter.com/drthomasdbs
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@drthomasdbs

Image Credits
Grant Chamberlin
George Redner
Natalia Yandyganova
Comedy Central