Take a foundation rooted in rural, rodeo, and dusty roads and add 40 dynamic years as an actor, writer and producer in Hollywood. Then bring everything to a sudden stop with a global pandemic. That’s how Tommy Howell found himself connecting his rich story — and, he hopes, all of us — through an interactive, personal performance that’s attracted some of Nashville’s master musicians and producers. Armed with original songs and backed by a band of Broadway vets, Tommy’s bringing “An Evening of Music & Storytelling” to cities across the country in his Fall 2022 tour. “We need to move forward and be the best we can be as people,” says Tommy, from the recording studio in his Nashville home. “I feel like there’s a voice there and a place for me to help find some comfort.” You likely first met Tommy as actor and leading man “C. Thomas Howell” in unforgettable roles like “Ponyboy Curtis” in The Outsiders and “The Reaper” in Criminal Minds. From Elizabeth Taylor and Francis Ford Coppola to Steven Spielberg and Patrick Swayze to Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield, Tommy has worked with the best in Hollywood on his journey through more than 240 credits. So when the entertainment business all but shuttered in spring of 2020, holed up like the rest of us, Tommy did what he’s done professionally since he was 14: He followed his heart, and got to work. With a story in his head for a music-related film project, he grabbed a guitar, and started writing characters not for the screen, but for his own songs. The shift in artistic discipline ignited a “creative awakening” for Tommy, one that sounded, sonically, a lot like where his own story started. Tommy grew up riding in a Ford Pinto with his bull rider-turned-stuntman father — from town to town, rodeo to film set. Often, he’d sleep on the floorboard while other cowboys shared a ride to places like Nephi City, Utah, or Sisters, Ore. By the time he was 14, Tommy was roping and riding. He was on a path to become a stuntman, performing fights and falls and riding motorcycles. As a teen, he twice earned California Junior Rodeo Association Champion in the All Around Cowboy category, while performing his own stunts in films and TV shows. But beginning at 16 in Spielberg’s legendary E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Tommy’s blossoming acting career meant leaving behind stunts and steers for the better part of four decades. It was music that brought the Gen X performer back to his cowboy roots. His catchy, character-driven songs feature some of Nashville’s top musical players providing the precision muscle to Tommy’s warm, road-worn vocals. Combining a Texas thunder heart with mountain music soul, it’s a real, comfort-food sound that’s different from anything else happening in Nashville. (Some of Tommy’s favorite bands include The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Marshall Tucker Band.) “I really miss that sound, and I think there’s a place for it again,” he says. Tommy’s unique ability to draw-in and delight audiences between songs with surprising and relatable stories gives him and his traveling show a built-in advantage. Whether in seated concert halls or raucous venues, his show evolves and changes based both on the audience, and the details of his unfolding life and career. “When I’m acting, the more personal I can make a moment, the more universal it is. It’s the same when writing a song,” he says. “The deeper I go into the darker corners of my soul, thinking no one will understand, the more I’m heard, the more people relate.” From blue collars to red carpets, rural to urban, Tommy’s life has straddled seemingly disparate worlds. “I’ve spent a lot of time on both sides,” he says. “And I believe I could be a bridge." Because whether it’s acting, music or rodeo, Tommy says, the goal is always the same. “As human beings, we all just want to connect,” he says. “I want to connect. The audience wants to connect. We’re feeling something together.”