Whitmer Thomas is a comedian and musician who got his first HBO special, The Golden One, earlier this year which mixed storytelling, songs and documentary elements for a unique look at his life. The special was taped at the Flora-Bama Lounge on the border of Florida and Alabama where his late mother and her twin sister used to play with their band, and in it Whitmer "reflects on his Alabama childhood and his identity as an 'aging emo kid' in LA through stories and songs on topics like dating, drinking, family and his mom’s legacy."
Studio versions of the songs from the HBO special were also released as an album, Songs From the Golden One, via Hardly Art. Whitmer's just released a video for "Dancing With My Dad," which Whitmer describes as "a holiday song about a movie star saving his dad from feeling lonely at a party. It was inspired by my relationship with my dad and his journey to recovery and redemption. When my parents split I didn't see my dad for a few years. In those years, I'd latch onto whatever semblance of a dad I could in movies and TV." As for the video, Whitmer says he wasn't able to film a proper one due to the pandemic, "so instead, I edited together my ideal day of channel surfing in 1999 when the only consistency in my life was the TV Guide channel.” You can watch that below.