Ural Thomas' designation as "Portland's Pillar of Soul" is apt. His consistently feel-good soul recordings span over half a century, and his similarly enduring series of weekly jam sessions promoted a communal spirit among musicians in his hometown. A halting crooner and a belter, as well as a proficient songwriter with an everyman perspective, Thomas recorded throughout the 1960s, first with the Monterays, then as a solo act with a couple UNI label singles leading to Can You Dig It...Live (1968), his first LP. After a long period away from recording studios, Thomas forged a bond with drummer and bandleader Scott Magee, and with support from the Pain, he has continued performing on a regular basis while releasing Ural Thomas the Pain (2016), The Right Time (2018), and Dancing Dimensions (2022).

Ural Thomas was born Ural Thompson outside New Orleans, specifically Meraux. During World War II, shortly after his birth, he moved with his family to Portland. The son of a preacher, Thomas was drawn to music very early in his life. A seasoned performer before he exited his teens -- he opened for Etta James -- Thomas went on to lead the Mono Rays, alternately known as the Monterays, a vocal group who performed around the Pacific Northwest. In 1964, they released a single on the local Sure Star label. Thomas wrote both songs on that 7" release, "Push Em Up" and "Deep Within My Heart." In 1967, his voice and pen powered Run Buford's "Deep Soul, Pt. 1," issued on Seattle's Camelot label. The same year, during a stint in Los Angeles, Thomas was behind two solo singles for MCA's UNI subsidiary: "Can You Dig It?" and "Pain Is the Name of the Game," both produced by Jerry Goldstein and arranged by Gene Page. Also in 1967, Hank Ballard the Midnighters cut "Here Comes the Hurt," a song Thomas co-wrote. The next year, Revue, another division of MCA, released Thomas' first album, Can You Dig It...Live, documenting a Seattle gig. After a short period in Cincinnati (the Ballard single was released by Cincy's King Records), Thomas spent time in New York and ingratiated himself as a long-term favorite at the famed Apollo Theater.

Withdrawn from the industry and back in Portland by the end of the '60s, Thomas ceased recording -- apart from a one-off single in 1982 -- though he hosted weekly jam sessions that occurred over the course of several decades. This affirmed his status as a local legend, as did Mississippi Records' 2011 reissues of some of his vintage sides. Hipped to Thomas by Mississippi's Eric Isaacson, Portland-based DJ, producer, and drummer Scott Magee (Loch Lomond, Y La Bamba) sat in on a session, befriended the host, and encouraged him to record again, becoming his bandleader in the process. Ural Thomas the Pain debuted in 2016 with a self-titled album for Mississippi. Two years later, they returned on another Portland label, Tender Loving Empire, with The Right Time. Thomas and company, continuing to operate as a fully collaborative unit, then linked with the Bella Union label for their third album together, Dancing Dimensions, released in 2022. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi