A top finisher on both “The Voice” and “American Idol,” Thunderstorm Artis grew up on the North Shore of Oahu in a family of 11 kids. His father, Ron Artis, was a Motown session player who performed on many iconic tracks, including Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” His mother, no musical wallflower herself, toured as a backup singer for Lena Horne. With that kind of lineage, it makes sense that their kids would inherit a degree of musical gifting and love of the art form.
When Thunderstorm was a young boy, he was a member of the Ron Artis Family Band, playing percussion and whatever else was needed alongside his family. There are some amazing videos on YouTube of the kids rocking out with their dad, a phenomenal keyboard player who passed away at the age of 61 in 2010 when Thunderstorm was just a teenager. Check out “It’s All About the Groove” and “Don’t Misunderstand the Blues” for a taste of the funkiest family I’ve ever seen. Now all grown up and successful in his own right, Thunderstorm is bringing his soulful singing, guitar mastery and desire for connection to the Belfry in Sisters on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 7pm.
the Source: You live in Nashville now, but I heard you actually lived in Oregon recently?
Thunderstorm Artis: Yeah, I lived in Oregon for about three years and it was such a fun season between 2020 and 2023.
tS: 2020 was when you were on “The Voice,” so you moved to Oregon after that?
TA: Yeah, so I moved my entire life around because of COVID. My live round [on “The Voice”] was shot from my living room and in my church in Oregon. So, any of the videos you watch from that [portion of the show] were all based in Oregon. My wife and I had our first kid in Oregon. Bend and Sisters have always been really close to my heart. I first got tuned into that place when I went there for the Sisters Folk Festival.
tS: What made you choose Oregon as a place to live during that time?
TA: I was on the road touring in between rounds of “The Voice,” and then I got a call from my agent and he was like, hey, there’s this crazy virus going around, so wherever you are, kind of hunker down… and that turned out to be Oregon where my oldest brother was living at the time. My wife was living in Australia then, and she got the second to last flight out of Australia before they shut down the borders.
tS: Wow, that’s wild.
TA: Now I have six siblings who live in Oregon, mostly in Newberg and Portland, so I’m actually going to be spending Thanksgiving in Oregon and my whole family is going to fly out there.
tS: That’s super cool. So, with your very musical mom and dad, you guys had a family band from the time you were just a little one?
TA: Well, I’m number seven of 11 kids, so pretty much my earliest memories of music are when my dad would wake up every morning and play his grand piano, and I would come down with my stuffed animal and just lay down underneath the piano and let the music wash over me. And I always wanted to do something music related, but it [the family band] was a way to connect with my family. I was like five or six when I was first showing up to my mom and dad’s gigs saying, hey, can I jump onstage? Can I play with you? Can I do something? But never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be a singer or a front man, so it’s crazy the things I’m doing these days. My older brother and my mom were the ones who really pushed me outside of my comfort zone. They were like, no, you have something special to share and you need to stop hiding behind us. I had a belief, which was a bad belief, that anything I could say or do had been said or done before… so what was the point of saying or doing anything because everyone else does it so exceptionally well? So, I was like, I’m just going to kind of coast here. But I don’t think we are called to live a comfortable life, so I’m glad that I got pushed out of my comfort zone.
tS: I see that sometimes you perform with your brother Ron Artis II. Do you guys still get together sometimes?
TA: Yes, we do. Not too long ago we did a tour with Jack Johnson and that was a lot of fun. We do get together, but we’re usually both touring on opposite schedules, so like, I’ll be on the East Coast and he’ll be on the West Coast somewhere, but whenever we can get together and do something, we try to.
tS: Who will be joining you on stage for the concert in Sisters?
TA: For this one it’s actually going to be more intimate. It’s going to be more stripped down with just me on acoustic [guitar] with storytelling, sharing a lot of new songs… and that’s what I love about Sisters, Oregon. It’s been one of my favorite places to come back to and share my heart musically. There’s such a beautiful cultivation of listeners there, like they really care about your lyrics and they really care about your music. And that’s a really rare thing when you are out there touring the world, to go to a place where people really appreciate the hard work that you put into your craft. It’s something that I always look forward to. A lot of my music is really heartfelt, and it talks about a lot of deep things, sometimes cloaked behind a lot of poetry. So, it’s like if you really listen and you are intentional, then you can hear the heart behind what I’m trying to share.
tS: It’s so cool you have such a connection with Central Oregon.
TA: Sisters was a place that supported me before I was on “Idol,” before I was even on “The Voice.” The first time I played a set for the Sisters Folk Festival, we did it at the Sisters Coffee Company. It was before anyone even knew who I was and they still packed out that place wall to wall because they heard a little bit of me at a workshop. It just feels like home.
Thunderstorm Artis
Sat, Nov. 22, 7pm
The Belfry
302 E Main Ave, Sisters
thunderstormartis.com
$35
This article appears in the Source November 20, 2025.
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