Thomas "TJ" Johnson:
For Thomas "TJ" Johnson, a multi-year career in music started in sixth grade with the help of "Glee." Johnson remembers watching the show's pilot episode and being inspired by Finn Hudson, the fictional high school quarterback turned a cappella singer.
"I was big into sports, and it was an eye-opening experience to see that there could be an athlete who also has this musical background," Johnson said.
From then on, Johnson dedicated himself to a path in music. He joined his middle school and high school choirs, and he spent the COVID-19 pandemic learning how to play guitar. For his 20th birthday, he bought himself a bass, which led him to joining his current band, the Podunk Ramblers. The Ramblers play a traditional form of bluegrass music that, according to Johnson, has resonated with a variety of audiences in Columbia.
"I feel like traditional bluegrass is more of an older crowd, but I think we're able to combine that older crowd and introduce it [bluegrass] to more of the younger crowd that might not be as familiar with bluegrass," Johnson said.
Johnson also described how Columbia's welcoming music community helps artists thrive in the city. He remembers a concert hosted by Local Mojo South Carolina, an organization dedicated to promoting local music, as being indicative of the scene's support of its musicians. Local Mojo booked a slate of Columbia bands, including the Podunk Ramblers, to play a show within the city. The concert was packed, and Johnson stated that the audience's warm reception to the Ramblers was especially rewarding.
"Just seeing everyone having fun from our craft, our art, was just an eye-opening experience," he said.
Experiences like these reinforced Johnson's faith in the scene, and he feels grateful for Columbia's continued support of its bands.
"I feel like everyone just wants to see each other succeed, which is actually a really nice feeling," he said.
Alena Marie:
Alena Marie was proficient in two instruments by the time she came to Columbia. As a child, she learned classical piano, a musical form that eventually felt too constrained and strict for her liking. After moving to Aiken and taking a break from piano, she started to sing and teach herself guitar, which eventually led her to start writing songs. Songwriting allowed her to write piano sections with less conventional musical structures, and the music she makes now often blends ambient guitar and piano parts.
"I place a very heavy emphasis on dreamy, romantic sounds," Marie said. "I usually start every song in the guitar, and from there I'll try to incorporate just a myriad of different sounds."
Attending USC and being part of the Columbia music scene has provided Marie with a bevy of new musical opportunities. USC's music school and music industries studies program has helped promote her music, eventually landing her concerts at local venues. One such concert was an opening slot for Freddie McClendon at New Brookland Tavern.
"That was so, just beyond words, unforgettable," she said. "I opened alongside two other female singers and it was such a great introduction to, because they're both in the music industry studies here at USC, just what USC aims to do through their music programs."
Moreover, Marie loves how Columbia's music scene encourages originality. She found that the city's acceptance of musical experimentation creates a culture of artistic innovation.
"It's very fulfilling to just be around so many people that are in this constant outlook where they are trying to create new things and think outside the box because naturally you will grow when you're around them," Marie said.
Such innovation is particularly important for young artists like Marie, who often feel a pressure to imitate the styles of other popular musicians. Columbia's love of originality, however, gives artists the creative freedom to establish their own musical style, which has been immensely valuable to Marie's music career.
"Something to consider is to take yourself outside of that frame of view and just exist as you are, and let people be attracted to that rather than trying to mimic the sounds of other people," she said.
Malachi "Khamani" Smalls:
Malachi "Khamani" Smalls wears many hats in the Columbia music scene. He's proficient in guitar, drums and bass, making him one of the city's foremost multi-instrumentalists. He performs in multiple local bands, putting him at the forefront of the scene. This musical multitasking, however, has always been a constant in Smalls' life.
Smalls started playing the drums when he was twelve, and just two years later he began to learn guitar. From here he began to write songs, which led to him making his first recorded work in 2022. This was some of the first work Smalls shared online, and as the years passed, he began to share even more music from a variety of musical projects.
Each of Smalls' musical projects produces a different style and sound. He's the drummer in Hell's Maid, a Columbia-based stoner metal band in the vein of Queens of the Stone Age and Chevelle, and in Pulse, a rock cover band. Recently, Smalls formed Khamani and the Runaways, where he plays guitar and sings lead on his original songs. Smalls has also released genre-bending solo material on Spotify, ranging from pop-punk to hip-hop.
Through these projects, Smalls is more than active in Columbia's music scene. He describes the scene as being close-knit, which he says encourages companionship, even if it sometimes generates conflict.
"There are times where there are people that are out for each other, like they don't like each other or something like that," he said. "But there's a lot of times where it's a lot of companionship and community."
Smalls is also proud of the diversity of bands and musical styles that find audiences within Columbia.
"[There's] so many different sectors to the Columbia music scene. It just feels amazing to be in different sectors of it," he said.
Smalls is also known for frequently playing shows across South Carolina, particularly on USC's campus. His bands have headlined multiple shows at the Russell House's "Live at the Underground" concert series, as well as Bustle at the Russell events hosted on campus. Smalls' musical projects also have fostered growth statewide, such as when Hell's Maid performed a fundraiser concert for musical education programs at Hampton's Palmetto Theater. Such events provide the foundation for future musicians to get their start within South Carolina.
One of Smalls' favorite shows was a concert he played with Hell's Maid at a small DIY venue. The band kept a high-energy atmosphere throughout the show, and during their cover of Rob Zombie's "Dragula," a spectator grabbed the mic to sing along. For Smalls, this moment represented the mutual love between bands and fans that keeps the Columbia scene going.
"I thought that was the best thing in the world to see people come together to play it, to sing a song back to us," he said.
