Tommy Fields | From Farm-Town Guitarist To Hollywood Composer And Near-Rock Stardom

Recorded at Skip Paige’s Little Bar, this episode of Big Conversations, Little Bar with Patrick Evans & Randy Florence welcomes musician, actor, and award-winning composer Tommy Fields for a wide-ranging conversation about creativity, career pivots, and life in the desert. Tommy shares how growing up in small-town Indiana led to guitars, garage bands, and a leap to Los Angeles with little more than a one-way ti cket and a dream. He reflects on early hustle—music school, odd jobs, and club gigs—before finding his lane writing for TV, film, and commercials, including a fast-paced world of two-to-five-week scoring deadlines. The hosts dig into his inspirations, from Back to the Future-era orchestral storytelling to the quirky magic of Danny Elfman, and Tommy breaks down his writing process between piano and studio. He also tells the unreal story of nearly becoming the lead singer of Velvet Revolver, and why life ultimately steered him toward composing.

Takeaways:

1. A small-town upbringing can still lead to big creative careers with persistence.
2. Moving to L.A. required hustle: school, odd jobs, and immediate band work.
3. Film/TV scoring often runs on intense deadlines—sometimes just two weeks.
4. Tommy’s process starts with script themes, then moves between piano and studio.
5. Classic composers shaped his approach: strong themes and scene-by-scene storytelling.
6. Rock-band experience can translate into scoring, as many composers began in bands.
7. He nearly fronted Velvet Revolver, but the band chose a different direction.
8. Desert living helps balance high-pressure work with a calmer day-to-day rhythm.

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