Musical ‘Masterpiece’
Husband-and-wife duo Thompson Square expands family and sound
Thompson Square’s new album is the ultimate in art reflecting life and vice versa. Named “Masterpiece,” the new release and its title track from the husband-and-wife duo of Keifer and Shawna Thompson pays loving homage to their first child, Rigney Cooper, who will turn 3 in January.
“We kind of bookended the record with the best thing that’s happened in our life, being Cooper, (and) the worst thing that’s happened in our life being ‘Breakers,’ which is about a family member who completely turned their back and betrayed us — which I know that a lot of people out there can relate to that, as well — and everything in between,” Oklahoma native Keifer Thompson said in a phone interview last week.
“We just took a cross-section of our lives over the last three to five years and wrote about it. … We’ve had a lot of ups and downs and roller coasters and great things and terrible things. Just life stuff, you know, so we poured all of that into this record. And it was really therapeutic almost.”
The country couple known for hits like “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not,” “If I Didn’t Have You” and “Everything I Shouldn’t Be Thinking About” are making a long-awaited return to his home state with an intimate acoustic show at
Fort Sill’s Historic Patriot Club.
“We just haven’t been home in so long. I miss coming home. It’s crazy how little time you have to go back home, but man, life happens,” said Keifer, who hails from Miami, OK.
“We’ve always done some military shows, but we’re doing a lot of military shows this year. Once we let them know that we love doing it— it’s an honor for us to be able to provide some entertainment for those who are protecting our country and our freedom and our rights and all that stuff— it just worked out to where we started playing a lot of stuff for them. So, that’s been really amazing.”
Embracing parenthood
The Grammy-nominated pair, who have been married for 19 years, welcomed their son in January 2016, and the father said life-changing doesn’t quite cover the effect of parenthood.
“It’s been so much fun. It’s kind of like life starts when you have a kid, almost. It’s weird. I mean, your priorities get put in line really quick. If I would have known we would have had one this good, I probably would have had one a lot earlier,” Keifer said with a laugh from their home base in Nashville, Tennessee.
He said parenthood has imparted a creative vigor beyond just the new album’s heartfelt title track. “All of that energy from the last three years of being around Cooper has really been very inspiring. Not just directly like songs about him, but just remembering why you came here in the first place— to write songs— and then having all this influx of emotions by being a father and being a parent and all this stuff. It just really kind of filled our tank on the songwriting front,” he said.
Going indie
While the duo were adjusting to parenthood, they were facing big changes in their professional life, too. Last year, BMG acquired Nashvillebased independent BBR Music Group, including the Thompsons’ label, Stoney Creek Records. Although the deal was inked in 2017, Keifer said uncertainty at their longtime label home hampered the couple’s music-making for the past few years.
“This has been one of those crazy, crazy times in someone’s career where you have to kind of redefine yourself and figure out what you want to do. When you’re not really allowed to really put records out or have any radio hits, your label’s kind of shut down on you, it’s like what do you do? We were kind of freaking out,” he said.
The couple worried they wouldn’t be able to get out of their record deal, but he credited BMG U.S. President of Repertoire and Marketing Zach Katz for understanding that the pair had a different vision in mind for their career. “We got out somehow, and we went right back into the studio and started making a record, because we hadn’t been able to do that in five years. It’s really hard telling someone they can’t make music when that’s what they do for a living,” Keifer said.
“We’re completely indie now. We fully funded this record. We did everything on it by ourselves. We didn’t have anybody telling us what songs to cut— which we’ve always had that— so we got to actually make a record like artists used to make records. … So, it was a lot of fun.”
The two-time Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Vocal Duo of the Year victors co-produced “Masterpiece” with twotime Grammy Album of the Year-winning producer Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift), as well as Dann Huff (Keith Urban) and multi-instrumentalist Ilya Toshinskiy. Working on “Masterpiece,” released in June on their T2 Records, was freeing, Keifer said. “We’ve been producing for years in the studio with demos and different things like that. So, we know how to do it, we know what we want to sound like, and we know what we like. It’s really interesting being independent because we’re getting ready to launch a tremendous amount of stuff,” he said.
Not only are the couple considering finally embarking on solo EPs, but they also are planning to release in November a children’s book called “Time to Get Dressed.”
“The book has been written for a little while, but it’s like, ‘Oh, you can’t compete with yourself’ or ‘You can’t put it out now. ’It’s like, ‘Man, why are we creating all this stuff if we can’t get it out?’ So, in that regard, it’s been really great. It’s always scary being on your own ... but it’s really good, too,” Keifer said, adding that he doesn’t know if the duo will end up on another label or not.
“It’s been amazing. It (the new album) might not do anything; it might not be a success. But at least we can sleep well at night knowing that we were true to ourselves and our hearts and our souls and our music and our artistry and our family and everything else— with no regrets.”