Obviously, Johnny Tom's talents lay elsewhere than farming. Not only could he compose poetry as fast as he could talk, but he was a very accomplished musician, playing both the accordion and the flute. He also had a very pleasant tenor voice. In this regard, Johnny Tom was more noted for his lilting or "dideling" (i.e., the rapid "di-diddle-dee-dee" approach to singing). These musical talents allowed him to set several of his poems to music. His musical and poetic talents were in demand at every local social gathering. Johnny Tom played and sang at set-dances in the vale below his uncle David Gleeson's house. This same vale was on the route of the noted Muskerry fox chase, which Johnny Tom immortalized in his ballad "The Wild Bar-A-Boo." None of Johnny Tom's known poems ever speak of romance, loves lost, or idyllic women. He never married. Most of his poems and ballads were satirical or remembrances of people and events.