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Thomas Rhyant

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Biography

As a young boy in Florida, Thomas Rhyant used to slip out of the house late at night to sit in his daddy’s Cadillac and listen to AM radio stations he couldn’t pick up during the day. He heard voices from the Bahamas, Chicago, New York, all over the place. He dreamt of seeing those places. It was music that would take him there.

 

Rhyant was raised on quartet gospel music. His father, an aspiring singer, was frustrated with the difficulties of trying to keep a group together. Eventually, he built one the organic way, fathering four sons who became a family gospel quartet known as The Rhyant Brothers. All four sons sang, but Thomas — the oldest and the one with a razor-sharp musical memory — was elected to be the guitarist.

 

Early on, Rhyant followed his father’s musical vision, but the first time he heard Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers — on his dad’s 8-track player — his own musical aspirations snapped into focus. The sound,  range and versatility of Cooke’s voice captivated Rhyant. He began working to emulate Cooke’s style, and found his efforts paying off when, at 19, he traveled with his father to a multi-night engagement at a church in the Bahamas.

 

“Every night, the church was jam-packed with girls, I mean full!”&nb....


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