Thomas Hinds is a hard-touring troubadour surviving on raw talent and a heartfelt folk-rock repertoire. “I want people to get a sense of comfort from my music, knowing that they’re not alone,” he mulled during a roadside pit stop. “There’s always hope, and there’s beauty even in hard times.” Like most great artists, Hinds’ work is largely autobiographical. It’s simply him: his heart and his life experience laid bare.

With his 2015 debut album Ghosts and Lamentations and follow-up EP Barbwire Bouquet, he hit the road in earnest in 2019 and soon was playing almost 150 shows a year. Noting that many of the wineries, distilleries, festivals, and house parties he plays were within a 5-hour radius of Atlanta, he gambled on a move from New Mexico to north Georgia. “I just stepped off the ledge and things just came together to make it happen,” Hinds recalls. “That was confirmation that I was doing the right thing.”

Hinds is supporting Where Do We Go From Here with evocative video content, showcases at festivals, including SXSW and Americana Fest 2024 and, of course, more countless miles in his trusty van. Gaining fans in a grassroots way, one-by- one, show-by-show, his hard-fought career is already a success by its very existence. “I always want there to be a silver lining at the end of things,” he concluded, recalling an epiphanous evening drive. “I was in the southern Pennsylvania hills, windows down, in that golden light. And I’m thinking, man, I would never in a million years have imagined this!”