Rewind back to the 70 ’ s and 80 ’ s , Randy Thomas was a member of Sweet Comfort Band . Then in 1987 , he started the band , Allies with Bob Carlisle and ended up recording and producing most of the Allies records in his own studio . In 1997 , Randy co-wrote , “ Butterfly Kisses ,” with Bob Carlisle . Today , Randy is still writing and leading worship in Florida .
[ WM ] Let ’ s back up before Sweet Comfort Band , what set you on your path in music ?
[ Randy Thomas ] My Dad was a high school band director from before I was born , and my earliest memories are that of being on a bus . I didn ’ t know I would wind up being on a lot of buses during my life ! He would teach music all day long and then he would come home , and he would listen to music all night long . So , I got exposed to every imaginable form of music . My Dad was listening to old 78 ’ s and big band music . You know , while he was listening to 40 ’ s music , most other people in my generation weren ’ t exposed to that music . They were listening to the music of the 50 ’ s and 60 ’ s into the 70s . So , a lot of it for me was just being in a musical home . Then I started on drums , and you know , my Dad being a band director , he believed that old joke … “ there are musicians and then there are drummers !”
So , I went over to trombone and that was an instrument that I got proficient at by the time I was in high school . I was a little late catching onto guitar . I was probably 13 by the time I started playing guitar . I was getting to be a fairly good jazz trombonist , and I was also playing in garage bands on guitar .
When I got into college , I realized that I just didn ’ t think there was a big future playing trombone . So , I turned my attention to guitar after that . So yeah , a lot of it ’ s when you hear so many styles of music … I think in every generation , when they hear music , they think , “ this is something new and it ’ s revolutionary !” They don ’ t understand where that music came from . I was fortunate that I didn ’ t just hear the music of the late 60 ’ s when it came out . I had heard all the stuff prior to that . So , I ’ ve always had a sense of , you know , this music came from somewhere and is going somewhere . And I think that helped me later as a musician .
You don ’ t know when it ’ s going to happen , sometimes it ’ s every few years , every four years , or every five years … there ’ s a musical shift . I remember the days when everything was hair bands and corporate rock ‘ n ’ roll , and then grunge came out and there were a lot of artists who were just suddenly out of a contract , and they were out of business overnight because there was a shift , and they were no longer the cool thing . I think a sense of musical history is a healthy thing . It ’ s realizing that music didn ’ t
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