FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It was 20 years ago, on the tour for his first solo album, “Something to Be,” that Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas had an epiphany.

At the end of a show in Phoenix, he walked out of the arena, through the rain and onto his tour bus, where Thomas was confronted by a situation they don’t tell you about in the Rock Star Handbook: His dog Tyler needed to go for a walk.

Still sweating through the outfit he wore onstage, Thomas took Tyler — a white mixed-breed that he and wife Marisol had rescued — out into the rain.

“So I was walking around in the rain, and I was really upset, right? Because it was the last thing I wanted to be doing. And I looked down, and he was so f—— happy. Like, it was the happiest I’ve ever seen anything, right? Because he’d been waiting for me all night. He thought it was the greatest thing in the world,” Thomas says. “I realized that, like, especially now that he’s gone, I would give anything for that moment again.”

That rainy walk would become the inspiration for “Little Wonders,” Thomas’ big-hearted plea to value the small moments of humanity — the joy, the sorrow, the mundane — that will come to define our lives. The song would find a home on the soundtrack to Disney’s 2007 animated feature “Meet the Robinsons.”

The Orlando-raised Thomas, 53, is about to embark on his first solo tour since 2019 with music from new album “All Night Days,” set for release on Sept. 5.

Along with new music, Thomas will feature solo hits such as “Lonely No More,” “This is How a Heart Breaks,” “Her Diamonds,” “Little Wonders,” “Street Corner Symphony” and Santana collaboration “Smooth,” with classic Matchbox Twenty tracks including “Push,” “3 AM,” “If You’re Gone” and “Unwell.”

Amid the excitement leading up to the tour, Thomas has been counting mixed blessings: His wife’s health is precarious; the co-writer of his new single, “Hard to Be Happy,” succumbed to cancer days before its release; and a few weeks ago he and his wife lost their dog, Ollie, a rescue from Puerto Rico they’d had for 15 years.

On the brighter side, the upcoming tour will be the first for Thomas with 27-year-old son Maison, a Los Angeles-based guitarist, as part of his band. From his home in Bedford, just outside New York City, Thomas last week responded to a few questions, one of the signature voices in rock over the last 30 years layered in laid-back warmth. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q. Your new single “Hard to Be Happy,” is deceptively bouncy. Lyrically you’re smiling through your tears. Where did that song come from?

A. I wrote it with Derek Fuhrmann and Todd Clark. It was over the pandemic, actually, when we started writing. Sadly, Derek Fuhrmann passed away (on June 27) just a few days before the single was released. He had had a private battle with cancer that none of us knew about, except for his family.

It was a song that was kind of about the fact that we’re in a place where it’s OK to not be OK, and it’s OK to talk about the fact that you’re not OK. And just because you’re not OK doesn’t mean it’s a permanent condition.

Q. Are you happy these days?

A. I think I’m about this happy most of the time, you know, just like anybody else. I’m really, really fortunate in the fact that I work really hard at something I love. But other than that, I’m prone to everything, you know. I lose people that I love. I go through heartaches, just like everybody else. So it’s a struggle to make sure that you’re not keeping score, right? When you feel happy, you run with it, and you try to enjoy that feeling. And the same goes with not wallowing when you get into despair.

Q. You and Marisol have been married for more than 25 years. She’s inspired a lot of your lyrics in that time. Are there any new songs that come from that place?

A. “Thrill Me” is a great example. (Refrain: “You thrill me, rattle and reel me, you break and you heal me, the rush is divine. And when we go crazy, I’m still with you baby, cuz after all this time, you thrill me.”) I think “Thrill Me” is the kind of a song that can only be written after we’ve been married about this long. I used to make the mistake of saying that it was meant to be for your second wedding, but I had to clarify that I meant to the same person. (Laughs)

Q. How is Marisol doing?

A. Right now it’s a bit of a struggle. You know, she has these permanent immune issues that were exacerbated by Lyme and tick-borne diseases, and then they manifest themselves in all kinds of different ways. We have really good days. And right now she’s just kind of going through it.

Q. It feels like the passage of time has been a theme in your songwriting since the loneliness of “3 AM” 30 years ago. How do you feel about the journey from where you stand right now?

A. I think when I was younger, time and age was an adversary that I was fighting. Like, you’re young, and you write these songs about, you know, what a drag it is getting old, right? But as you get older, and you start to lose people, you realize that getting older is a privilege that’s not afforded to everyone, and you start to embrace it, and you start to embrace all the things that come along with it, because it’s a gift.

Next year it’ll be 30 years since the first Matchbox Twenty record, and this year is 20 years since my first solo record. And, you know, I’m so excited to have new music. I’m so excited to have people listen to what I’ve been doing, because I work hard on it, and it means a lot to me. But also, there’s a gift in the fact that people want me to play “3 A.M.” because I’ve been afforded the ability to be someone’s nostalgia. And that’s its own gift.

Q. Matchbox Twenty’s debut album, “Yourself or Someone Like You,” came out in 1996. That was a year when the charts featured iconic albums by Tupac, the Fugees and Celine Dion. How does it feel that Matchbox is still standing, recording and touring?

A. Well, I remember the first time that MTV ever talked about us. We were this faceless band that sold millions of records, but nobody really knew anything about us or what we looked like, and that became a point of pride to us. The idea that our music was more famous than we were. That was the period back when the cover of Rolling Stone really meant something, and every band was on there, all these bands of the moment. I can’t use Rolling Stone as an example, because we actually turned down the cover of Rolling Stone when it came to us. …

Q. Wait, what? Why did you do that?

A. Well, at the time, they wanted to put me on the cover without the band, and that just didn’t sit with us. My buddy Adam Duritz, from Counting Crows, they did the same thing to him. He told them to go f— themselves, and so they put the whole band on the cover. So I was like, “I’m gonna be like Adam, and then they’ll put the whole band on the cover.” So I told them, “You guys go f— yourself. And they’re like, “OK, we just won’t put you on the cover.” (Laughs)

But there’s so many of those bands that we were jealous of because they seemed like the cool band of the moment, and they’re not around anymore. So, you know, I think maybe the currency in being cool isn’t as lucrative as I thought it was. And then just being around for a long time created its own kind of vibe. I don’t know if I call it cool, but, you know, we definitely have a sense of pride.

Q. Kids are like walking calendars that show you exactly how much time has passed since you were young and hip. How does it feel to be touring with your son, Maison?

A. Everything that we thought was cool, is nothing that they think is cool. But we chill on a lot of music. Like, he’ll play me some new bands I’ve never heard of, and I’ll hit him with old Jeff Buckley records, you know? The last one he showed me that I really like was Coin. That’s a place where we can both really connect.

Q. Unless you’re LeBron James, a father does not get to play professionally with his son. Can you brag on him a little? What does he bring to the band?

A. Well, you know, he went to Berklee (College of Music) for four years and did the work and (went) from a good guitar player to a really great guitar player, and then he moved out to L.A. with his band (The Lucky). My solo band has been basically the same band since my first solo record. My guitar player in that band is kind of retired from playing live … and it was his idea that I should maybe think about Maison, because he had been watching his videos online and thought that he was really ready for the gig. And, honestly, I would never give him the gig if he wasn’t 100% ready, and if I didn’t think it was going to enhance the show.

Q. Do you have a favorite moment of performing together?

A. Well, so far it’s been corporate gigs or charity gigs, right? So this is our first time, like, actually hitting the road, playing multiple shows back to back. What’s really sweet was, at the time we were talking about this tour, he was just like, “Dad, this is the most time we get to spend together.” And I thought, it’s such a sweet thing that he still feels that way.

You know, this job was the thing that kept me from being able to see my family as much as I wanted to, right? And so there’s an irony to the idea that it’s the very thing that’s going to make him and I be together every day. … He’s one of my best friends. But I look at pictures of him when he was, you know, 6 and 7, and I’m like, “Oh, man, I hope I got enough out of that time.” You know, I’m trying. I’m trying to remember the good old days as they’re happening.

©2025 South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Visit sun-sentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.