He wrote several influential early boogie-woogie piano pieces including "The New Orleans Hop Scop Blues", "The Fives", and "The Rocks", which some believe he may have recorded himself under the name Clay Custer.

[2][4] In the late 1890s the family moved to Houston, Texas, where George W. Thomas Sr. became a deacon at the Shiloh Baptist Church.

[2] Around 1910, George W. Thomas Jr. formed a friendship with Clarence Williams, who was also working in the Houston theaters; they may have also met Jelly Roll Morton around this time.

Some of his pieces were played in the Storyville area of New Orleans by his young brother Hersal Thomas, who had joined him in the city and performed with local musicians including King Oliver and his protégé Louis Armstrong.

Following the closedown of the Storyville area of New Orleans,[4] he moved to Chicago in 1920, and was joined there by his sister Beulah "Sippie" Wallace, who also became a performer, and by his brother Hersal, though his mother remained in Houston until her death.

[2] By now the sole proprietor of his publishing company, Thomas reissued some of his earlier compositions and also played with local groups and accompanied singers, including Sippie.

[2] George Thomas continued to publish compositions after his brother Hersal's sudden death, aged 19 in June 1926, but his output diminished in the late 1920s.