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

Wyatt, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I’m incredibly fortunate to be able to do what I love as a full time job! I started making money playing music when I was around 14-15 years old playing bass at an open mic night that my dad and a friend of his ran. That’s where I learned most of the important skills and tools that I use most often today; like learning songs on the fly, and networking. After that, I started playing in a band around the same age with a co-worker of my mom and started to meet more people in my area and just kept going up from there.

I’ve picked up other jobs for short amounts of time through the years, mostly doing landscaping work for 6-7 hours a day for about 2 years. But playing music has always been the main source.

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?

I got my first bass around 11 years old and started taking it more seriously around 14-15. My dad plays drums full time so once I was good enough to play out with others, I started playing with him and his various bands around the Carolinas until I moved to Nashville in 2021. I played mostly in the North Myrtle Beach area in South Carolina playing beach or “shag” music, which is a type of dance, generally accompanied with older music, not unlike “Motown” music.

Right now, after being in Nashville for almost 2 years, I’ve been absolutely floored by the amount of work and connections I’ve made. I hit the ground running by immediately making connections in the downtown/Broadway area which is where I spend most of my time making money, playing all of the various bars you can find here. I also travel with various artists as well across the country and around the world, like going to Istanbul, Turkey with artist Jacob Morris in July.

My current goals for 2023 is to tour playing bass for a well known artist and to also have my own music out as well.

My own original music is something I’m going to be hitting hard in 2023, with my first song due to come out in mid February, with a steady flow of releases after that. I pride myself in these songs because they’re songs that I’ve written solely by myself in a town where so many people write songs with 4-5 others and they write on a schedule and it just feels very “commercial” at that point. A big drive for me and my music is that I’m tired of seeing the same type of music or just downright the same people at every bar, every writers round, everywhere. My music is coming from a place of being different; a mix of everything from alternative rock, country, pop and everything in between. So with me releasing music under my own name, I’m eliminating the reasons that I can’t be one of those people in those rounds or in those bars.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I’ve watched my audience grow so much since I’ve moved to Nashville. I noticed it grow the most when I make a connection with someone who has a larger following with me and they are able to tag me in their posts and stories. I also notice that making that personal connection with people at shows as well, by saying things as simple as “follow (artist) and tag them in your posts and we’ll reshare!” Which leads to them wanting to engage with me directly and ask about my own social media accounts.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

For me personally, I would love to see people being more open to those who are just looking for a chance to be heard or seen. A lot of what you’re not going to hear is often better than what you hear nonstop. Go to the bars that aren’t advertised 20 times a day, go to the art shows that have 4 artists attending. And work with others that aren’t “on your level”. By that I mean if you have a writing deal or if you only work with the same 4-5 people, take a second to look down and around and see if there’s anyone you can truly help, just by simply acknowledging them and working with them.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @dubah_yew_tee
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WyattThomasMusic?mibextid=LQQJ4d