Life & Work with Trevor Toms of Denver/Nashville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Trevor Toms.

Hi Trevor, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I was five years old, my mother took me to an Easter sunrise service at Red Rocks. After we climbed what seemed like an endless stairway to the sky, wiped the snow off the bench on row fifty, we wrapped up in a blanket, and the music began. As the sun crested that distant horizon, the music swelled, the dancers spun around, and I knew in that moment the stage is where I wanted to be. That cold morning in the amphitheater set in motion a journey that feel so blessed to be on.

The decades that followed found me running down a dream, up on the stage, pouring my heart out in a variety of different bands. At Wheat Ridge high school I had an original-songs-only, five-piece, Doo-wop Rock band (Quagmire) that wasn’t the most technically proficient, but by far the most entertaining group in town; capes and coordinated suits to boot. Then in school at CSU I joined a Hard-rock/Metal band playing dive bars and house parties. For several years afterwards I focused on my career as a landscape designer, until my good friend and bandmate Tony Goffredi approached me about starting an acoustic Grunge duo called One Way Ride. Our first show was held at The Bannock Street Garage, and we didn’t have the network to bring an opening band, so we opened for ourselves, in costume, under assumed stage names. That bar gave us our start as a weekend-warrior working band, a fanbase, and a lot of fun memories. Tony and I added a third member, Sam Bowersox-Daly, and created a rocking Folk trio called Fortunate Son. As that project faded, Tony and I pivoted to a more soulful Rock sound that was taking over Denver with folks like McKnight, Silver and Smoke, Float Like A Buffalo, and Nathaniel Raitliff. One Way Ride bloomed into a seven-piece powerhouse, determined to “make it” in the music scene. We recorded four EPs, toured the region, and had a ton of fun collaborating on various projects with other artists in town. Alas, it was tough to break out of the middle ground in Colorado, much less keep seven people on the path.

This entire time I had been working for and building various landscape design/build companies and landscape architecture firms, then the pandemic hit, gigs disappeared, and I found myself overworked, rail-thin, perpetually hungover, and desperately missing the power, the rush, and deep fulfillment of being onstage. So I left. I packed up what fit in the truck around my motorcycle and guitars, and sold or gave away the rest, as I set my sights on the bright lights of Nashville, Tennessee.

Music City is where I flourished. Albeit hard to leave the place I grew up, I found a home here, one that opened my heart, expanded my mind, and connected me back to my source. It has been nearly five years, three albums, a hundred different cities, thousands of miles on the road, and one goal: to get back to that legendary stage nestled in the red sandstone.

Although I live in Tennessee, I tour Colorado and the West often, and get back to my roots.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The roughest roads have taught me the most, and this journey is less like the concrete expanse of C-470, and more like the hardscrabble twists and turns of Black Bear Pass. It is hard when the short-term outcomes don’t always seem to reflect the precious vision/goal, and much of this journey has been filled with rejection. Poorly attended shows, canceled gigs, broken tour vans, garbage pay, large expenses, serious respiratory illness, breakups, busted guitars… are all par for the course, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Its those experiences down in the ditch that make the highs so much better.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a storyteller, with a unique capacity to resonate with people, making them feel seen and heard. Whether its a ripping harmonica solo over the clash of guitars, or the tears in your beer to sorrowful lament, I create moments.

My latest album, “AmeriF’nKinda”, tells stories that connect us: stories of loss and love, hardship and heroism, youth and maturity. The rising Alt-Country record has sold more than three-hundred vinyl copies around the country, and has taken me and the band all over the world. I am very proud of this album, and so excited to share it with you. Follow me online to be a part of the experience!

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I will be on tour quite a bit this year, and plan on a little Rocky Mountain run in the autumn! Please look for our schedule at www.TrevorToms.com

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.trevortoms.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trevordtoms/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrevorDToms/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@trevortoms
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/49RNPop1c18H9wGLxrIg21?si=C0HPFgQFR2GXzryE8f0zKw

Image Credits
J.A. Dellamano, Tammy Hess