July 4th, 2004, was a turning point for me as a songwriter. That day, I played my songs for 350 inmates at Folsom Prison. I’ll never forget the look of survival in their eyes. They were gracious, kind, and enthusiastic. A captive audience, someone later pointed out. After that experience, I was left to ponder many things. One of which was- you never want to end up in prison. Another – everyone deserves a moment of escape, a reprieve, no matter how flawed they are. Folsom was the moment that sent me down a different writer’s path. I began to write about people other than myself. I wanted to pen stories of the downtrodden, immigrants, the wrongly accused, and the rightly accused. I was happy my band and I could provide a brief distraction for the prisoners that day. Those inmates inspired a whole bunch of songs that I’m still writing today.
~ Thom ~
