Thomas grew up with music, his mother was a music teacher in northwest Texas and he began learning the piano at an early age.

However, it didn't occur to him to be a musician. He was an architecture major in college when he attended a Sly and the Family Stone concert, and, as he says, finally got it, finally heard and saw music for the first time.

His album thomas hughes who are you? is all original music. He said, "I wrote it! I made it up!" In a more philosophic vein, he said, "Before any beginning, nothing is. From nothing, something. That's creation. From silence, sound occurs. Music appears."

Thomas Hughes plays in Austin at jazz venues, concerts, and private parties with his group the Thomas Hughes Quintet, who bill themselves as playing contemporary jazz-funk-fusion with powerful vocals.