We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ryan “The Son” Thomas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ryan , thanks for joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I think I would say because I’ve done the hard internal work of being happy as a human I have room in my life to be creatively unsatisfied. At first glance the word unsatisfied can seem sad, but it’s the dissatisfaction as an artist that carves capacity to continue pursuing art with humility and wonder.
Humility, in the sense that if you strive to be a full time artist one-day, you have to start working another job to pay for the resources and marketing you need to grow as an artist. It’s one of the ways you get to remember you’re a human and have to work like everyone else..naturally the emotions and thoughts of that journey will inspire writing that people relate to.
Wonder in the sense that when you start seeing impact and money coming from your artistry, it’s wonderful! You receive it with a different sense of wonder than someone who never had to go through mountains and valleys of being both human and artist.
These two things are why I take time off from producing, work a job, do things that everyday people do and remind myself I’m human making art that makes people feel human.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Hey I’m Ryan Thomas, but most people know me by my artist name Ryan The Son or my nickname, Ry. I am an ex-college basketball athlete that found music (and recently acting) after the ball stopped bouncing. As I discovered who I was through travel and humanitarian aid work around the world, I found songs flowing out of me as I processed the human experience I was observing.
Overtime, I’ve honed in my sound through the exploration of the songwriting craft and the good friends and mentors I’ve encountered along the way developing a genre-blending sound with indie pop / Rnb homage. Through the platform my artistry has provided for me, I seek to make space for other creators to find the network, mental wellness and resources to do the same in an organic, authentic environment. I exercise this cause through a writers collective called Growing Pens, a content creation program called Collide Creatve, and soon through an Apparel and design organization that I can only tease for now :)
I think through all my art I hope to remember and display that the struggles that nearly broke me connect me with others. I want to tell my story not because it’s unique, but because it’s not. I’ve found that people from multiple walks of life tend to appreciate the voice that they find in that. It’s empathy that breeds hope. At the end of the day that’s the goal for me, because I know what it’s like to be so hopeless that you want to disappear. May my endeavors keep people alive as long as their meant to be.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I think giving people words and sounds that validate their emotions and thoughts is the most rewarding thing about creating. I just had a conversation with a young man that listens to my music and hearing how my music was a soundtrack to things he was pondering or weathering was cool. It’s magnificent to me that something we can’t see can touch us, and as a composer of music I get to create and channel that invisible touch! MIND BLOWING. END OF MY TED TALK. THANKS FOR LISTENING. Wow. Will never get over that.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
I haven’t release my own as of yet, but I have a brother who is a guru in the space. He encouraged me to “be a tourist” and get to know different projects, and other people in the NFT space and see what your naturally leaning is as you learn. While “touring” I’ve been pleased to find that NFTs are not just about protecting ownership of designs, or money grabing, or getting rich quick by flipping. It’s actually a fantastic place to find and build community around art. Similar to how people bonded and gather over the statues and paintings of the renaissance era, I think people are gathering in the same way, just digitally.
I’ll probably relase an NFT collection with the next album release if it makes sense. For now, it’s just really fun to explore. I will add that it’s really important to do your own research and find a trusted point of contact as you explore. Shameless plug, my brother is a good start!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ryantheson.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryantheson/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ryanthesonn
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ryantheson
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ryantheson
Image Credits
Photography by Jason White