Tom Skinner’s Science Project
Thelma’s Peach
Aug. 30, 2023
Thelma’s Peach is tiny inside and out. There’s a neon peach emanating a warm glow from above the bar, giving the dim room a magical, twilight glow. It’s the sort of place that feels both novel — it opened with new ownership in the space that formerly housed Thelma’s Bar in June 2022 — and like it might have secretly existed forever without you knowing about it. This makes it the perfect host for Tom Skinner’s Science Project, originally in residence at the Blue Rose Cafe, then the Colony, and which now happens at 6:30pm every Wednesday at Thelma’s.
The Science Project is an evergreen band founded in 1999 by the late songwriter and Red Dirt pioneer Tom Skinner, along with his longtime musical collaborator Don Morris, who continues to lead the band today. The other regular players onstage — or rather, in the corner, as the venue does not have a stage — are guitarists Brad James and Gene Williams, drummer Rick Gomez and bassist Chris Bell.
Skinner, in an interview I did with him for The Oklahoman shortly before he passed in 2015, explained the science behind Science: “They wanted me to do a songwriter swap at the Blue Rose Cafe on Wednesdays, and I said it was too noisy for songwriters, so we just decided to have a different guest every week — maybe a songwriter, or a drummer, a piano player, or a singer. We started that up and thought, ‘Man, we’re going to have to work all week to get one guy’s stuff worked up for Wednesday night,’ so instead, we just decided to get the guest up there during the show and call it ‘science.’”
True to that science, the lineup may change slightly each week with the addition of special guests here and there, some of whom are merely in the crowd, unaware that they’re the special guest until Morris is handing them a guitar, as was the case with Tulsa musician Travis Linville on this particular night. The thread connecting them all, aside from a musical proficiency deep enough to make them all look exceedingly casual onstage, is an appreciation for Skinner’s legacy.
Two songs into the set, during a rendition of Skinner’s “Times Have Changed,” someone yelled, “I am so glad it’s Wednesday!” and was met with reciprocal whoops and cheers. At any other concert, this person might have been seated in what you’d call a friends-and-family area of the bar; at this concert, it appears the entire bar was the friends-and-family area of the bar. Patrons greeted one another with an effusiveness that would imply, incorrectly, that they hadn’t all seen each other one week ago in the very same room. (On the note of family: Skinner was famously a member of Garth Brooks’ band when Brooks was an up-and-comer in Stillwater. Venue co-owner Andrew O’Meilia’s father Matt was the drummer in Brooks’ 1980s band Santa Fe.)
For two hours, the Science Project cycled through hits by other people and by themselves, swapping lead vocals the whole time. Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece” received a buoyant singalong, as did “I Shall Be Released,” sung by James over a ‘90s rock groove. “Love Revolution,” penned by Morris, got the same enthusiastic reception as any selection from the folk rock canon. For nearly every song, each spare inch of space at Thelma’s was turned into a dancefloor. You cannot attend this show without dancing or, at the very least, being danced near.
These musicians and their “Peaches,” as they called the most zealous admirers in the crowd, are all people who grew up loving music and continue to love music with the same zeal and sense of community today, and it shows. It’s one of the purest rock ‘n’ roll shows I’ve ever seen. They may call it science. It feels a little more like alchemy.
Next at Thelma’s Peach: Bronco Henryetta, Sept. 26; Tom Skinner’s Science Project, September 27
