Thompson Square isn’t a real place, exactly. It’s the musical
territory staked out by the husband-and-wife duo of Keifer and Shawna
Thompson, an exciting and unpredictable area where country meets rock,
rough meets smooth and one vagabond heart finds a harmonious common
ground with another. It’s the sweet destination where two journeys end
and another one begins. “It’s the place where we create our thing, a
little fantasyland where we live,” Keifer says.
And now the rest of us get to discover that magical place, starting
with the chart-topping duo’s self-titled debut album. Fans began truly
getting to know their way around Stoney Creek Records’ Thompson Square
with the release of their No.1 platinum+ radio smash “Are You Gonna Kiss
Me Or Not,” a fitting introduction to the Thompsons’ natural chemistry
and spirit of buoyant romance. The single has grown meteorically to
become the most played song at Country radio in 2011 (mediabase) as well
as reach the top of the Billboard Heat Seekers Chart. In addition, “Are
You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” spent five consecutive weeks at #1 on the
Country Digital Soundscan chart and 12 consecutive weeks as the #1
Country Ringtone.
Things have happened very quickly since then: Thompson Square has
earned 12 awards show nominations in 2011 including an American Music
Award nomination for New Artist of the Year; two 2011 CMA Awards
nominations for Best New Artist and Vocal Duo of the Year; seven
American Country Awards nominations including New Artist, Music Video
and Single of the Year and two CMT Music Awards nominations. The duo has
played to over a million fans in the past year – by both having been
rapturously received as an opening act on superstar
Jason Aldean’s tour
and by packing high-energy shows of their own. They’ve seen the “Kiss
Me” video become a favorite on CMT and GAC, even spending 12 consecutive
weeks in the Top 5 of CMT’s Top 20 Countdown. They’ve earned a follow-up
Top 15 hit with, “I Got You,” and traveled the national media circuit,
performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Conan, Fox & Friends,
FOX’s All American Concert Series and more.
Perhaps most emotional for the duo was their debut performance on the
legendary Grand Ole Opry. “That was bucket-list stuff,” says Shawna.
“That’s something you dream about all your life.” The suddenness of
their success belies the fact that -- separately and together -- Keifer
and Shawna have been learning their craft in Nashville for a decade. “To
see it paying off right now is elating,” Keifer says. “Every day I try
to take a little time, soak it all in and say thanks.”
Now Music City is sharing with the rest of the world the
pitch-perfect combination of Keifer’s soulful intensity and Shawna’s
crystalline grace; her classic country upbringing and his wide-ranging
singer-songwriter influences. Shawna grew up in tiny Chatom, Ala.,
learning traditional country songs from her guitar-playing father and
soaking up the sounds of Reba McEntire and
Alabama on the radio. Keifer
was raised in Miami, Okla., where he was exposed to everything from
Roger Miller and Merle Haggard to punk rock and heavy metal before
finding his most profound influences in thoughtful tunesmiths like Bruce
Springsteen and Tom Petty. Each moved to Nashville within the same week,
and met at a singing competition a few days after hitting town. “I
walked in and saw her, went right up and started talking to her,” Keifer
recalls. “She beat me in pool, and that’s where it started.” Like Keifer,
Shawna sensed a connection right away. “I knew immediately,” she says.
“It sounds so cheesy, but it was a love at first sight thing for me.”
Each had come to Music City intending to pursue a solo career, and for a
few years that’s just what they did. “She was doing her own thing, and I
was doing my thing,” Keifer says. “After a while it made sense to
combine what we did. We looked at each other one day and said, ‘Maybe we
should try to do this.’”
And so Thompson Square was born. They adjusted to the idea of
combining the pressures of married life with a career choice that
demanded near-constant togetherness. “A lot of couples can’t be together
24 hours a day -- but for us it doesn’t work unless it’s like that,”
Keifer points out. “It’s still like we’re dating, and we’ve been married
for 11 years. We like to have fun, we like to laugh and we like to rock
out -- so that’s what we try to do.” The pieces truly began falling into
place for Thompson Square in 2009, when manager Shawn Pennington caught
the couple’s show at a Nashville club. Within days Thompson Square was
performing for the staff at Stoney Creek Records, and before they knew
it they were signing a contract. “This label has been amazing for us,”
Keifer observes. “They’re making our dream come true right now.”
The first step in bringing that dream to life came when the duo hit
the studio to record their debut album with their pals in the New Voice
Entertainment production team (Kurt Allison, David Fanning, Tully
Kennedy and Rich Redmond). “Doing it with your friends is different than
having a big-name head-honcho guy that dismisses everything you say,”
Keifer notes. “We all had a say-so. Every song on this album has a
little bit of each of us on it.” Thompson Square and their producers
sought and found stellar outside material, but much of Thompson Square
is made up of Keifer’s own songs. “It was very important for me to have
some original songs I wrote,” he says. “But we weren’t stupid -- if
there was a better song, we put it on there.”
The album seamlessly combines the twosome’s wide-ranging influences
into a loose, lively and identifiable sound all their own. “There are
songs that will make you laugh, make you dance, make you cry,” Keifer
says. “We tried to touch upon the whole gamut of emotions.” The playful
“Let’s Fight,” for instance, is an upbeat ode to friendly marital spats
-- and the ensuing reconciliations. “Shawna and I get along sometimes
too good, because it’s hard to write sad songs about love lost when
you’re not experiencing that,” quips Keifer. “But I thought it’d be cool
to write a song saying, ‘Let’s fight and get things stirred up … and
then make up!’” The Thompsons explore the endless dynamics of couplehood
throughout the album, as in the opening rush of the ebullient “I Got
You” and the muscular, mischievous “Getaway Car.” But they also explore
the darker side of relationships, as on simmering ballads like the
conciliatory “If It Takes All Night” and the fragile “Glass.” It’s just
one way in which Thompson Square subverts the stereotype of the married
couple singing sticky-sweet songs of devotion to one another. “We don’t
want to do lovey-dovey songs,” Shawna declares. “This is real stuff.”
Every day now, more and more fans are getting a taste of that “real
stuff” and deciding they like what they hear -- and the Thompsons
couldn’t be happier or more grateful. “A year ago we were bartending
down on Broadway,” Keifer says. “To go from behind the bar to the other
side of the world, it’s been difficult to grasp the magnitude of what’s
going on. We just try to put out songs that we love, and we hope our
fans will like them too. The rest is in God’s hands.”
