Musical Career
Thomas formed the band Cornbread and began his career in music by performing with the band in and around Columbus, Georgia. Cornbread made a bigger name for itself during the middle to the late 1990s and extended its shows to college campuses such as Auburn University. Thomas and Cornbread released several albums, including Flags of Our Fathers, which was released under the artist's name, Keni Thomas. Cornbread was also featured in the movie "Sweet Home Alabama" starring Reese Witherspoon. In the movie, Keni and his bandmates perform the feature song, "Sweet Home Alabama", (originally recorded by Lynyrd Skynyrd in the late 1970s) for which the movie was named. Thomas donates some of the proceeds to the Hero Fund, which directs those funds to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, an organization created to provide college scholarships and financial aid to the children of deceased or wounded Special Operations soldiers.
Keni has performed the National Anthem for the New York Yankees several times, including game one of the 2009 World Series, as well as for the San Francisco Giants on Memorial Day 2010.
Thomas appeared in a 2011 episode of the FX television show Louie, portraying himself in a fictionalized version of a real U.S.O. visit to Afghanistan he took with comedian Louis C.K. in December 2008.
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