Meet Aaron J. Thompson & Our Story

Growing up in Columbus, Aaron J. Thompson discovered a lifelong love of guitar. His first formal guitar lessons came in 1981, the year a patient teacher put an instrument in his hands and showed him how a handful of chords could open a whole world. From that first lesson, music became central to his life — a constant companion through school, friendships, and the everyday rhythms of central Ohio.

He was drawn to the warmth of the acoustic guitar and to the storytelling tradition of American roots music, spending long evenings teaching himself to fingerpick, learning songs by ear, and slowly writing his own.

During a difficult season of recovery and adaptation, Aaron found a deep well of inspiration in the music of guitarist Phil Keaggy — in particular his album "The Wind and the Wheat." The album's lyrical fingerstyle textures and melodic warmth offered encouragement at a moment when the world sounded different than before. Aaron kept returning to the guitar, kept practicing, kept creating — supported all the while by family and friends.

Years later, that long admiration turned into a friendship and a creative partnership. Aaron and Phil collaborated on Aaron's original song "Among Friends" — a piece shaped by decades of listening, healing, and gratitude. For Aaron, the experience of writing and refining the song with a musician he admired so deeply was itself a reminder of what music makes possible: genuine friendship across difference, and the quiet courage to keep creating.