Steve's Life So Far
Paperback Version ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------For over twenty years, Steven Thomas has been a professional musician touring and working with the biggest artists in Bluegrass and Country music. He was born in upstate Connecticut where his father, Neil Thomas, was working in the construction business in the years following World War 11. There, Neil met Stevens mother, Marilyn Chick, a true blue-blooded Yankee girl!Steve was around 2 years old when his Dad packed up the family-his mother, three brothers, and a sister, and moved them back to his home state of Virginia. There, on a farm 50 miles southwest of Roanoke, Steves young life was shaped in tragedy and hard livin, but filled with an abundance of love and happy, good times.In 1971, his Father, a World War 11 Veteran, Master Mason, school teacher, Sunday school teacher, farmer, and sawmill man, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Not a year later, the family returning home from church one Sunday afternoon, found their home in flames."We were out on the street, but Dad never missed a step. He had us all laughing in no time. We all stood there together holdin onto each other. We laughed and we cried, and I remember Momma makin some joke about how it was the first time that winter that old house had been warm."Steves father was a musician, and a good one too. "After Dad got sick and that old house burned down, I think the first thing he did was go out and buy a fiddle, mandolin, and guitar. Hed lost an old fiddle in the house fire, and I remember he had a mandolin that burned up, too, but before he got sick he never really played them much anyway! Mostly he just worked, and he worked the rest of us too. When I was real little, I didnt have to do much but play and stay out of everybodys way. About the time I started to school was when I had to take on chores. My first chore was sloppin hogs every morning, but it wasnt too long before I moved up to milkin cows. "For the next three or four years, Neil Thomas played a lot of music, making up for some twenty-five years or so that he had laid it down, and Steven took right to it.Dad sang and played fiddle and mandolin in a little Gospel band with some folks from church. The preachers wife, Flo Doyle, sang; the choir director, a nice lady named Mona Spickard sang and played bass, and one of Dads closest friends, Paul Kidd, sang and played guitar. It wasnt long before me and Pauls son, Monte, who had become my best friend, horned our way in. Monte on the snare drum and me on the guitar. Game on!One of Steves early influences on the fiddle was a championship fiddle player from North Carolina-Tommy Red Maulbuff."Man could he make that thing talk. He had beautiful tone. Hed do this little story piece called The Trip to Grandmas House where along the way hed run into different animals-a dog, a cat, a cow, and he could do all the sounds perfect. When he got to Grandmas house, hed draw water from the well makin that old crankin sound, then (gulp, gulp, gulp) drink it down. When he finally went in the house, the real show started. Hed say something like, there was old Grandma playin Amazing Grace on the old pump organ and proceed to make the fiddle sound just like an old organ. He was a real showman. Tommy was the man who turned me on to Kenny Baker. (20 years the fiddle player for Bill Monroe) He gave me an album of fiddle tunes by Kenny Baker and Joe Green called "High Country" and I still have it."It was the third weekend in May of 1975. Steve was 12 years old when his Dad took him to the fiddlers convention in Lithia, Virginia."It was the most awesome day. Dad and me jammed all day long till the sun went down. We played with all these folks wed just met. Dad playin fiddle, me on guitar. Somebody just passin by might say something like, Care if I join in? Dad in fine country fashion would generally answer back something like, be a snob if you didnt. How cool is that! We played all day till dark. On the way home, I remember telling him, I cant wait till next year. This was the most awesome day ever! and Dad, who Im sure was in some awful pain, in a sober voice, looked across the seat of that old Rambler station wagon and said, Son, I doubt if Ill make it next year. Neil Crawford Thomas passed on May 19, 1976. ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------Steve went on to play in the Roanoke Youth Symphony and graduated with honors. Thru his high school years, he played with some of the best bands in and around the Roanoke area. They were the East Virginia Grass and The New Grass Revue. He won Best Mandolin player at the Virginia State Championship in 1981. That year he also won the Grand American Fiddle Championship in Chilhowie, VA. In 1982, he won Best Fiddler at Galax, VA. and Best Fiddler at the Worlds Fair in Knoxville, TN. He hooked up with Tim Austin to form the now famous Lonesome River Band, and claims to have come up with name.Steve was 17 when he made his first recording with the New Grass Revue. It was about this time when he became acquainted with a pretty little blonde by the name of Janet Dodson. She just happened to be the daughter of Lawrence and Marian Dodson. Lawrence has been the pastor of Windsor Hills Baptist Church for 47 years, and also loves to sing and play Bluegrass music. Steve and Janet have been happily married for 21 years. They have two lovely children, Nathan-17 and Aaron-12. Theyve lived the good life in Hendersonville, TN. for 18 years.In 1982, Steve enrolled at Virginia Western Community College, but the bug proved too strong, and he left after just three semesters to play for Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals. The next year found him and his new wife, Janet in Nashville, TN. where he played on the Grand Ole Opry with Jim & Jesse and The Virginia Boys. Hes gone on to record and play with The Lost and Found, The Whites, The Osborne Brothers, Aaron Tippin, Barbara Mandrell, Brooks and Dunn, LeeAnn Womack, Kenny Chesney, John Michael Montgomery, Ronnie Bowman, and Lorrie Morgan. A Few Highlights! Steve recorded with Jim & Jesse on the Homeland Harmony album. He recorded The Suns Gonna Shine album with the Lost and Found. He worked with the Whites along with Jerry Douglas. And in 1985, they were nominated for CMA Country Instrumental and Vocal Group of the Year. He also played the fiddle on their critically acclaimed Gospel album Doin It By the Book. He recorded with the Osborne Brothers playing lead acoustic guitar and fiddle on the Hillbilly Fever album. His rendition of Orange Blossom Special from that same album was nominated for a Grammy in 1989. He played acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and mandolin on David Parmleys I Know A Good Thing album on Sugar Hill records. He played fiddle on Aaron Tippins Read Between the Lines album which produced Aarons first ..1 record, There Aint Nothin Wrong With The Radio. He played the mandolin and violin on The Acoustic Attitude album for Barbara Mandrell. What hes most proud of? His marriage of 21 years to the love of his life, Janet.
Whats Steve up to these days?
"Ive just finished a record Im really excited about. Im picking in different configurations of bluegrass and related acoustic projects around the Nashville area. Stepping out on my own for the first time in 20 years, taking bookings for next year, and working hard to get back in the loop of the Acoustic market. I love being around those folks." ~peace
