We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Thomas Fountain. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Thomas below.

Thomas, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

What we do as creatives in music is a lot of times misunderstood, especially in the digital age of music. The majority of people or fans only see us on a stage somewhere and don’t realize the work behind the scenes. First, as a creative we must be continually finding innovative ways to stay relevant. We must always be creating new material, whether that be songs or ways to connect socially with our fan base. I think very few people realize just how much work we do as creatives keeping up with our social media daily. For me personally, it’s not something that was relevant when I first started playing music. Over the years I’ve had to learn to be my own businessman and wear so many different hats. I spend probably half of my day everyday just working on social media and content. With that being said it can often take your mindset away from the most important thing, the music. I think music as a whole has suffered as a result. Since a younger generation in music sees the “go viral fast” approach, they’re spending less time actually working on my craft. Those of me who started out focusing on their craft are now trying to keep up with the social skills of the younger generation. Needless to say it’s a lot to juggle.

Thomas, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Thomas Fountain, a country music artist and singer/songwriter from the North Georgia area. My journey in music is much different than most. I like to tell people music wasn’t always a part of my life in sense. It was something that found me and I in turn fell in love with it and found solitude there. I didn’t start playing music until my junior or senior year in college. After graduation I started a career in education and had a cover band on the side. In that cover band were very seasoned musicians who saw something in me that I didn’t at the time. They took me under their wing and taught me everything I know about music, playing and performing. However, I quickly got tired of playing other people’s songs and began to write my own. I slowly started rolling out original material and the response was great. I then decided to hit the studio and record all original material and set out as myself, Thomas Fountain. I didn’t expect people to gravitate toward my music the way they did and I was left with a very difficult decision. Try to juggle being an artist and having a full time “normal” job or dive straight in. I decided that I owed it to my fans and those supporting me to give my all to music so I did. That’s where I am today. I realized in my journey a few years back, that my music wasn’t just about me. I wanted to work, write, perform, and be the best I could be for not just myself, but my fan base. I felt like I owed it to them. After all they were and are the reason I’m still here. I’ve learned to just be myself and give people exactly who I am and that’s probably what I’m most proud of. I’ve had so many in the industry try to change me whether it be my sound or look or whatever. However, I’m just me. I write about how I grew up, the values, and everything that North Georgia life entails. As a result, my fanbase has stayed true and constant over the years.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I really had a monumental moment for me personally in my music career a few years back. I was completely at a standstill and very dissatisfied with where I was professionally, until I got a call one day. The backstory is a lady from Virginia drove her family down to a show I had in Atlanta once. I ended up hanging on their RV after the show and said “hey y’all want to hear a new song I just recorded”. The song was titled “Mountain Climber”. It was a song I wrote about struggles and how I felt like I was just constantly climbing mountains. The twist of the song pretty much means, hey maybe that’s exactly what I was born to do. Maybe I was just made to be a really good mountain climber. Maybe others see that and take encouragement from my strength. The song resonated with this particular lady and became her favorite song. Fast forward to the phone call. Almost two years later I learned she was battling cancer in a Virginia hospital and was using my song as her fight anthem. Her family even had shirts made saying Mountain Climber. I learned in that moment that I wasn’t in a standstill in my career. My career wasn’t just about me advancing to the next level. It was about impacting people. I realized right then that was exactly what I was doing. Even though she was battling cancer, she seemed to be doing pretty well. I told my team that we just never know what may happen and I feel led to drive up and surprise her in the hospital. We drove 9 hours to Virginia the next day and surprised her in her hospital bed and sang the song. Her spirits were lifted so high and seemed to be doing so great and maybe on her way to recovery. However, she passed away just two days later. It inspired me so much to keep pushing forward and to put my soul into my songs. You may not please the masses doing it, but you may just impact that one person’s life. A life that we know can’t get back.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I’ll end with a short answer. Follow our journey on all our social media. Share, like, comment and just stay engaged. Stream or download or music. Buy that 15-20 dollar ticket to come see a show. I mean heck a Starbucks coffee is like 8 bucks. Buy and wear our merch. If you truly believe in us, just know that without you spreading the word and supporting us, we simply can’t continue to do what we were made to do.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thomasfountain.com
• Instagram: tfountainmusic
• Facebook: thomasfountainmusic
• Twitter: tfountainmusic
• Youtube: thomasfountain

Image Credits
Eric Hernandez Jason Holland