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10 Questions with ... Thompson Square
August 11, 2019
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. We have great partners in radio, and we're making new ones all the time. I think part of that feeling we didn't address -- about it being different [this time] -- is that there are so many new faces [in radio]. The radio world turnover is like flapjacks at the Waffle House. They are just turning them over all the time. So, it's tough to get to know the people. The previous people were there for a long time, and it seems like it is just changing so rapidly. It's sad to see your friends come and go, but it's part of the deal
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Keifer and Shawna Thompson of Country duo Thompson Square are best known for their #1 hits "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not" (from 2010) and "If I Didn't Have You" (2012), along with the Top 10 singles "I Got You" and "Everything I Shouldn't Be Thinking About," all recorded under their previous label deal at BBR Music Group's Stoney Creek Records imprint. Those successes helped earn them Vocal Duo of the Year awards from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. After leaving Stoney Creek, the two took time off from releasing music to start a family, then put out the album "Masterpiece" independently in 2018. Now, the husband-and-wife team have a new label deal with Reviver Entertainment Group's newest imprint, DavMo Records, which picked up the album and released title track to Country radio in July. The couple's three-year-old son, Cooper, inspired the song, written solely by Keifer. This Fall, Thompson Square will embark on their first-ever European tour. In addition to their music, the couple recently chatted with All Access about more side projects to be announced in the coming weeks, plus Keifer's newfound love of performing stand-up comedy.
1. Talk about returning to Country radio for the first time in more than three years with your single, "Masterpiece?" Have your experiences this time felt different?
Keifer: It feels so weird to hear you say that, like we have been in a forest eating bark and berries for three years.
Shawna: We just went for our first adds three weeks ago [7/22]. We are finding that it's kind of different from when we came out with the first single.
Keifer: It's different and it's the same. It's the same process, but I think it's just different for us because we took a little pause [when we] got out of our previous label deal. [Now], we have signed a new deal, but [we also] had a section in the middle of that [where we were an independent act].
None of this is easy. It wasn't easy when we got started, and it's not any easier now ... It's the same process because [we have] phoners [with radio,] and [when] it's Monday, we still ask, "How many [radio] adds did we get?" and "What do the spins look like?" All of that is the same. It just feels different because there is a phenomenal number of artists now, even more than when we first we got started.
Shawna: We do feel like we are kind of starting over again. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because I feel renewed and refreshed.
Keifer: The album, "Masterpiece," is our favorite that we have ever put together because it is all us, and it was picked up by this new label. [The project] got us the deal, and the song that was written last was the first song that has been released to radio. Even though this album has been out for a little bit [independently], the label said, "It hasn't been released to radio, and we're not going to waste these songs."
2. Talk about your new label, and why you chose to sign with Reviver Entertainment Group and DavMo Records?
Shawna: It was just their open-mindedness to everything: the children's books, Keifer's comedy, and there are a few things we can't talk about [right now], but the label is on board with all of it.
Keifer: Before our manager, Shawn [Pennington met with labels], I basically told him, "I want you to go to every label in town and [find out] where we stand, because you never know until you ask. Reviver was about the third label we went to. In the [music] business, everyone has tunnel vision [about releasing music to radio]. This label asked about what other things we have besides the record, which they loved.
We told them about [my comedy idea] and other projects [we are working on]. The label loved all of that, and they are also one of the only [labels] in this business that doesn't rely on one form of exposure. That is an [exciting] way to look at life. That's how we have been operating for the last couple of years, because you can do more than one thing, so why not? It makes it fresh, fun and challenging. The label wrapped their arms around everything we wanted to do, and they are some of the nicest people I've ever met.
3. How has the songwriting process changed for you guys? Has becoming parents influenced this?
Keifer: Becoming parents just freed us up from worrying about a lot of small [issues] that we didn't need to worry about in the first place. Our son is our main focus in life, and, as a songwriter, you're always searching for something of an infusion, if you will, of emotion and inspiration for music. I wrote "Masterpiece" literally about Cooper and my marriage. Those are easy things for me to talk and sing about. For me personally, when I go into a write, I am armed with ... a lot of emotion, and a little bit more force than I think I used to have. It seems a bit easier for me to be honest with myself [when] writing.
Shawna: I feel like this last record was real and organic for us. We weren't worried because we were independent. We knew radio was [initially] not even an option.
Keifer: We still were very commercial, but there are songs on there that a label probably wouldn't have let us cut, like "Breakers," and [other songs] that are super close to home.
4. Why do you think the single, "Masterpiece," has really connected with your fans?
Shawna: I think so many people can relate to it. Everybody has been in love at some point, and there are a lot of parents out there that feel like their babies are their masterpieces. We hear it nightly at our shows, after we perform when we are [signing autographs] at the merch booth.
Keifer: I think it resonates because it wasn't made up.
Shawna: It's real. It's right from the heart.
Keifer: People can hear and see through stuff that's made up. Some songs need to be, though. Sometimes you just want to party and have a good time. Sometimes I want to take four bottles of wine and pour them down my mouth at the same time. I also want to listen to sad songs, and I want to listen to something real that invokes emotion. That's the part of Country that the fans love, because there's so much reality to it.
[Country] artists, back in the day, [sang lyrics] that they can't get away with today. They would just let it all out. Hank Williams Jr. would literally talk about a day in his life. Just start the song with, "I woke up this morning. I had bacon and eggs." That was part of the deal, and I love that. That's why Shawna and I both love "Masterpiece." It's not an easy [thing] to say that about something you wrote, but I love this song ... Cooper can be in the wings [at one of our shows] singing [this song], and he knows it's his song and he wants to hear it. It means so much to our family. I think the fans see that.
5. You also released your first children's book, "Time To Get Dressed," last Fall. Will there be other children's books coming soon?
Keifer: There's two that I have written [but not yet published]. I feel like I should have written 10 by now, but ... there are all of these little side projects [we are working on], on top of being back in the radio game, it's time consuming, but it's part of the deal. We have great partners in radio, and we're making new ones all the time. I think part of that feeling we didn't address -- about it being different [this time] -- is that there are so many new faces [in radio]. The radio world turnover is like flapjacks at the Waffle House. They are just turning them over all the time. So, it's tough to get to know the people. The previous people were there for a long time, and it seems like it is just changing so rapidly. It's sad to see your friends come and go, but it's part of the deal.
6. Keifer, let's talk about your Instagram handle, @KeiferComedy. Are you interested in doing stand-up?
Keifer: This was something that, about a year ago, I really wanted to try. My management, my wife, and [my friends] have been bugging me about doing stand-up. [Performing comedy] was the most terrifying thing that I could have imagined putting myself through, but it kind of got to a point where I thought, "If I'm going to try it, I need to do it now." So, my [management team] booked me a show in Huntsville, [AL]. Before I traveled down there, I wrote for about a month. I'd never written a joke, ever ... and it is completely different [from writing a song]. I write jokes [that,] like writing songs, take too long to get to the punch lines.
I've [now] done probably 15 shows. I performed at the Comic Strip Live in New York the other day. I was very scared to do it, but anytime I've done something new like that, I've always jumped off in the deep end and figured out how to swim. By the way, [other comics on that show included] the lead writer for [Stephen] Colbert, [David] Letterman and [many more]. Then [there was me], this redneck from Tennessee. I'm up there with my guitar singing funny songs, but they laughed. That was one of the coolest moments of my life. Funny songs are what I do, but I write bits [to say] in between [songs]. Even though I'm really focused on [promoting] the album, once that is in the can, I'm going to focus everything I've got on my comedy. I love doing it. I'm not trying to change my career, but just trying to have some fun.
I've made so many great friends in the comedy world already, and they are genuinely pulling for me. They will lend a helping hand, an ear or [give me] advice. The comedian Dusty Slay is one of those friends.
7. This Fall will be your first European tour. Will Cooper be along for this, and what are you both excited to see?
Shawna: We are still trying to decide if it's going to be too hard on [Cooper] because we're literally in a different town every night. I don't know how much we will be able to see him, even if he is with us.
Keifer: Honestly, I've always been curious about the red-light district in Amsterdam [laughs].
Shawna: That just happens to be our first [tour] stop.
Keifer: How different of a world that is. I've always liked to look at food in different [places], because I'll never be able to see that [in America]. We are going to Scotland, Germany, and Ireland -- all these great places. I'm sure we will soak a little bit of it up. This might be a mom and dad trip, because we're going [to return overseas] twice a year at least. That's the plan. I think this trip might be a scouting trip ... But leaving Cooper for two weeks is going to be hard on us.
8. You noted on your band's Instagram account that you are writing with songwriter Leslie Satcher for a special project. Can you give us any teaser information on the nature of that project?
Keifer: It's the one thing we can't [discuss in depth], but I will say this: It's going to be the most different thing that you've ever heard from us. [It will be] a very unexpected project. We've been writing with Leslie a lot. I love her as a person, and she is a powerful, brilliant songwriter. She brings out the best in writers. It's been a blast writing with her.
9. What new songs from the "Masterpiece" album have been fun to perform live for the fans?
Shawna: "Good Day" is one of my favorites to do. It's just a simple, fun song. The crowd sings along with us. "A Love Like This" [is another fun one] and is a song that Keifer also wrote about Cooper, but before he [was born].
10. In your children's book, there were lyrics to a song, written by Keifer, that he and Cooper would sing together. Even though your son is only 3, has he shown any early interest in performing music?
Shawna: We [recently] did a run of Air Force shows, and they were early shows, so Cooper was able to [attend]. It was before his bedtime, and he got up onstage every night and would want to sing the "ABCs."
Keifer: He would run from the wings to the stage and get on the mic and say, "Hi, I'm ready to sing." Then he would sing the "ABCs," and I remember choking back tears [when he did this the first time]. He came out and Shawna picked him up, and he sang [that song in front of] 2,000 military personnel. The crowd would start screaming back the "ABCs" to him, and I was dying, because that's something I would have never done when I was that age.
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