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

Hi Thomas, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

It wasn’t until I was about 27 years old that I decided to pursue any sort of career in music. Since childhood, I have been surround by musical artistry. My father was a world class pianist; he headlined at Carnegie Hall twice. My mother was/is a wonderful singer, I remember her singing at church, in musicals, at weddings, etc… So, music has always been in my DNA. I have always loved to sing, more so than playing an instrument. I took guitar lessons for a year in 8th grade and then decided that my time was better spent pursuing my athletic goals in high school. Do I regret not taking free piano lessons from my dad and continuing guitar lessons? Absolutely. Regrets are part of life, though.

Fast forward to 2017: I was working at the Hilton Austin as a valet. I always took the opportunity to sing the entire time I was inside of the guests’ cars, it was my little getaway. In my adulthood, I had never sung in front of anyone before, so being in the car for 5-6 minutes at a time gave me the chance to get it out of my system. One day, one of our frequent guests walked up to me and said “So, you like to sing, huh?”. It took me off guard big time. I nervously responded with “how did you know I like to sing?” He chuckled and said “well, I have a dashcam that picks up audio from inside my car, and I reviewed the footage” (probably checking to make sure I wasn’t driving like a maniac in his car) “you sounded great!” He really encouraged me pursue singing. I didn’t think much of it at first, and for the next year or so I continued just singing in cars and keeping it to myself. Unfortunately, in 2018, my father passed away just 3 months before my wedding at the young age of 58. I remember being at his funeral and really reflecting on life and what my father would want me to do. That next year, I started to pick my guitar back up, I started to come out of my shell and sing at karaoke, in front of friends, in front of family- I didn’t want to feel nervous or embarrassed by it anymore. As I continued to potentially pursue this professionally, my wife and I decided to start visiting Nashville and see if this scene was really for me.

I believe God puts people in your path that you are meant to connect with. That person for me was Cody Joe Hodges. One night while we were in Nashville, my wife and I met him after his performance at Loser’s Bar and Grill. We quickly hit it off, realizing we were both Texas natives and sharing similar interests and beliefs. Cody quickly took my under his wing and started to let me hop on stage with him in Nashville and a few spots throughout Texas at his shows. He really broke my out of my shell. Honestly, without his encouragement and guidance, I don’t know if I would still be doing what I am doing. Another person that has really helped me through this process is Alek Hand. I was referred to him to record my first professionally produced songs. We hit it off, and now he is not only my producer, but my drummer and friend.

Lastly, my friends, my family, and especially my wife, have all been major contributors to making me chase this crazy dream of mine. Without them, I would have given up a long time ago. I am by no means where I want to be yet, but with the support system I have around me, the sky is the limit.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

There’s really not too much to me. I grew up in Fredericksburg, Tx and moved to Austin when I was 19. This industry is still relatively new to me- I didn’t pursue music professionally until my late 20’s. I have at many times thought to myself that its too late in life to be pursuing this, but that thought process is toxic, and I encourage anyone that feels like its “too late” to drop that mentality as quickly as possible.

When it comes down to it, discipline is much more important than motivation. I am extremely motivated, but without discipline, without continuous practice, all the motivation in the world won’t get you anywhere. I currently still work for a local homebuilder, I have a precious 4 year old daughter and beautiful, hardworking wife. So, finding time for music, while still balancing all of my other responsibilities as a husband and father can be difficult. That’s where discipline comes into play. What used to be “forcing myself” to go into our garage every night to practice my guitar and write new songs has now become habit, due to discipline. I am no philosopher, but your mind set it everything. You must believe in yourself and you must put your thoughts into action.

I take a lot of pride in what I do, but it is also extremely humbling. There will always be people who are better than you, there will always be times of discouragement, there will always be doubt, but the pride comes in when you can fight through those setbacks and keep pushing forward.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

By far the most rewarding part of this journey has been sharing my music with friends, family and fans. My songs are inspired by true life events, and I feel like you can feel that when listening to them. I have had people reach out to me about a few of my songs, especially “Save Me”, and told me that it really touched them and helped them get through the day or through a bad time in their life. When I get feedback like that, it makes it all worth it. As we all know, music is often the medicine we need.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Honestly, this has been one of the hardest aspects of this journey. I DO NOT like social media. If I wasn’t releasing songs or posting videos, I would not be on any of those platforms. Social media presence is one of the most stressful elements of modern day branding. I wish I could give more advice on how to build your audience this way, but all I can really say is KEEP POSTING. Even if it feels cringey, keep doing it. I can not stand the sound of my own voice, or seeing my facial expressions, but I have had to look past that. Seeing your own videos is like back when you’d hear your own voice on someone’s answering machine; not the most delightful experience. Most of the time after I record a video, I send it to my neighbor to post it for me because I never know what hashtag or whatever to add. I pay her in white claws. Don’t take social media advice from me.

Contact Info:

• Website: info@thomasramsaymusic.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/thomasramsaymusic
• Facebook: Thomas Ramsay

Image Credits
TreyVon Cargill Kerry Michael Jackson