THOMPSON SQUARE 

Jim and Hannah Rae chat with Thompson Square about their current tour and upcoming album, plus their life as new parents!

Click here to listen to part one of our interview with Thompson Square!

JB: I’m so glad we have Hannah, because she is, like, our roving reporter.

Hannah Leach: Yes, I am.

JB: We send her to all the places that I don’t want to– I mean that I can’t go– I mean that I’m not able to go to. So we sent her on the tour bus of country duo Thompson Square, who I’m a big fan of. And you got some good scoop, huh?

HL: Definitely did, and they were super super nice, it was really fun hanging out with them– so thank you for sending me on that mission. It was a great time.

JB: Ahhhh, it was my pleasure!

HL: So Thompson Square is a Grammy-nominated and multi-platinum selling country duo, so if this is your first time hearing about them, they are a pretty big deal. I got to talk with Keifer and Shauna and I asked how this current tour is a little different from what they’ve done in the past.

Kiefer Thompson: Well, this [tour] started last year– we did a month tour of just acoustic, and it went over really well. So this year we decided to extend it cause we had so much fun doing it.

Shawna Thompson: It’s something we’ve always wanted to do, we always wanted to tour acoustically, you know, cause that’s where we started. Playing down on broadway in Nashville, just the two of us, and that’s how we write, and um… we just wanted to go out and do our own thing and have fun together!

KT: And our fans seems to love it, so we’re going to continue to do it.

Hannah Rae and Thompson Square!

HL: And so you guys have this new album coming out on June 1 called Masterpiece, what are your thoughts about it? Are you excited? What are fans going to hear that’s different from what they’ve heard in the past?

KT: You know, it’s been five years since we’ve put a record out, I can’t explain to you how excited we are about this. It’s been a long time, there’s a lot of honesty on this thing, and a lot of fun, and I don’t know! The title track says a lot. “Masterpiece” was never intended…we had a few people, like, “you think your album’s a masterpiece, huh?” The song “Masterpiece” is about our son, Cooper.

HL: That’s really beautiful.

KT: And that’s why it’s called Masterpiece. So to all you naysayers…take that!

JB: And Hannah, you were telling me they have their child and their dog on the tour bus!

HL: It’s true.

JB: I would say “help” to that, but we’re going to go behind the scenes next on the Jim Brickman Show.

Click here to listen to part two of our interview with Thompson Square!

HL: How has becoming parents changed your outlook on being touring musicians?

ST: It really hasn’t! [Our son] comes along with us and he just works right in there with our plans. He’s a road dog, he was born a road dog–

HL: That’s really cool–

ST: He’s got his little crib and…if we fly, he flies amazingly, we went to Japan last year and he did so awesome on the plane. He sat there on the airplane and watched Toy Story and ate snacks, and was a little man! So it’s not really changed at all!

KT: That main thing that has changed is just the creative process, just because of the amount and influx of creative energy. Cause you have all this inspiration. I’ve had all these feelings, and Shawna has all these feelings that you never know until you’re a parent. Until you’re like, wow, I mean, the first thing I thought when I held him was “I’m going to write a lotta great songs about this kid.” It’s a really special thing, you know, so the creative process has really freed us up to be completely open and non-fearful of anything, and we just wanna tell the story of our life the past three, four, five years.

Thompson Square’s new album is called Masterpiece and the This Is Us tour is happening right now!

More about Thompson Square

With romantically charged #1 hits like “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” and “If I Didn’t Have You,” multi-platinum international success, and honors as Vocal Duo of the Year from both the ACM and CMA Awards, Country duo Thompson Square admit they don’t have much left on their bucket list.

So for the husband-and-wife team of Keifer and Shawna Thompson, the next chapter of their career is about something different.

“This album is called Masterpiece, and the definition of a masterpiece is an artist’s life’s work,” Keifer explains, hinting at the creative satisfaction behind the duo’s third studio album. “When we’re 80 years old and we look back, we want to be able to say we’re really proud of all the stuff we did.”

Working independently for the first time, Masterpiece arrives at a tipping-point moment for the duo – and it finds them taking skillful control of their acclaimed musical bond.

For more information, go to thompsonsquare.com.