Teddy Thompson

Teddy Thompson
Background information
Born (1976-02-19) 19 February 1976
Origin London, England
Genres alternative country, Folk, rock, singer-songwriter
Years active 2000–present
Labels Cooking Vinyl, Virgin, Verve Forecast
Associated acts Richard Thompson, Linda Thompson, Kamila Thompson, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Rosanne Cash, The Grey Race, Poundcake
Website www.teddythompson.net

Teddy Thompson (born 19 February 1976) is a British folk and rock musician. He is the son of folk-rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson and brother of singer Kamila Thompson. He released his first album in 2000.

Biography

Teddy Thompson was born in 1976 in a London Sufi commune to folk-rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson, both major musical figures in the English folk rock scene from the 1960s on. He is the brother of singer Kamila Thompson. He formed his own band at the age of 18. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue his music career,[1] which included work as a singer and guitar player in his father Richard's band during the 1990s. He appears on at least three Richard Thompson Band recordings from that time: You? Me? Us?, the live album Celtschmerz (1998) and Mock Tudor (1999), as well as singing a duet on the track "Persuasion", which appeared on Richard's best-of compilation Action Packed (1999). He can be seen performing in his father's band on a number of internet videos from as early as 1993, including an appearance on the BBC's Jools Holland show. He coaxed his mother out of retirement and co-produced her first album in 17 years, Fashionably Late.[1]

He resides in New York City.

Recordings

Debut

In 2000 Thompson released his debut album, Teddy Thompson, which received much critical acclaim but little commercial success. Between the time of his debut album and follow-up, he released the moderately successful EP Blunderbuss and toured as part of Rosanne Cash's band. His song "Love Her for That" was featured in the 2002 film 40 Days and 40 Nights.

Separate Ways

In 2005, Thompson released his second full-length album, Separate Ways. It has a strong "second-generation" artist theme, featuring both Rufus and Martha Wainwright, who are close friends of Thompson. He has toured and recorded with both the Wainwrights, including Rufus' 2003 album Want One.[2] Teddy and Rufus recorded a version of "King of the Road" for the 2005 film, Brokeback Mountain, with Thompson also contributing a solo track: "I Don't Want to Say Goodbye". Separate Ways features Dave Mattacks, Tony Trischka and Garth Hudson of The Band and was produced by Brad Albetta, who also produced Martha Wainwright's much-lauded debut album. In 2014 the track "In My Arms" was featured in the movie Love Punch.

Upfront & Down Low

Teddy's third album, Upfront & Down Low, was released on Verve Forecast in the United States on 17 July 2007, and in the UK and Europe later in 2007. The album contains covers of many of Teddy's favourite country songs, plus one of his own compositions, entitled "Down Low". It offers covers of country classics such as George Jones' "She Thinks I Still Care," Ernest Tubb's "Walking the Floor Over You", and Liz Anderson's "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers", made famous by Merle Haggard. Lesser-known songs include Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's "Change of Heart" (originally recorded by The Everly Brothers), Dolly Parton's bittersweet "My Blue Tears," Bob Luman's "Let's Think About Living", and the Elvis Presley "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone." Six tracks feature string arrangements by English arranger Robert Kirby, renowned for his work with Nick Drake.[3] "My Blue Tears" features strings arranged by Thompson cohort Rufus Wainwright. The only single taken off Upfront & Down Low was "Change of Heart".

A Piece of What You Need

Thompson's fourth studio album, A Piece of What You Need, was released via Verve/Forecast on 17 June 2008 and contains all original songs. It was produced by Marius de Vries, whom Teddy met while recording background vocals on Rufus Wainwright's Want records in 2002. He had been playing the opening track, "The Things I Do", for several years on tour and originally intended to put it on Separate Ways, but could not get the feel right in time for that album's release. The song "Turning the Gun on Myself" first appeared on the 2004 EP Blunderbuss.

The first single from A Piece of What You Need is "In My Arms". The music video for the song features a cameo appearance by Rufus Wainwright dressed as Elvis Presley. The song entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 107.[4] The album received rave reviews in the UK, and much critical acclaim elsewhere, with many stating that this album is Thompson's best work to date. A Piece of What You Need debuted at No. 10 after its first week in the UK Charts during August 2008.

Bella

Thompson's fifth studio album Bella was released on 7 February 2011 in Europe and 8 February 2011 in the United States. Bella is Thompson's fourth album released on the record label Verve Forecast. The album is produced by David Kahne, whose previous collaborations include Paul McCartney, Regina Spektor and The Strokes. Bella contains all original songs which Thompson started working on after returning from his last tour. Thompson crafted the songs for the album going to a Manhattan office every day homing in as a record deadline drew closer. The album single is called "'Looking for a Girl" and was released on 13 January 2011 on Verve Forecast.

Bella has received positive reviews in the UK and the US with critics praising Thompson for crafting another solid album as a follow-up to 2008's A Piece of What You Need. Critics also note that this is Thompson's most personal record to date which yet again shows off his talent as a vocalist and craftsman of both deeply personal and hummable pop tunes.[5][6]

Little Windows

Thompson, in collaboration with acclaimed American singer-songwriter Kelly Jones, released his sixth studio album Little Windows via Cooking Vinyl on 1 April 2016. The album was recorded live to a 16-track tape machine by producer Mike Viola, featuring Pete Thomas (drums), Davey Farragher (bass), Steve Elliot (guitar), Daniel Clarke (keys) and Teddy Thompson (guitar). Linda Thompson is the executive producer. Upon release, the album reached number 1 on the UK country chart.

Contributions

Thompson in 2006

Performance

Tributes

Special appearances

Style and musical genre

Coming from a family of folk musicians, Thompson has naturally drawn influences from folk-music into his own musical sound. While still a teenager he was listening exclusively to American music such as Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly. Thompson also later stated that these artists are some of his main musical influences when he first started to write songs. Later when he grew up he began to listen more to contemporary pop music such as Crowded House, and his own musical style today is a mix of folk, country, rock and pop music. As he says himself:

". . country music was the music I was brought up on. It's the music that's closest to my heart and the music that speaks to me the most, and it's always been a big influence on my own songwriting. I was obsessed with country music when I was a kid, and it's definitely had a huge influence on the way I write songs. I was always attracted to songs that had a brilliant pun or a clever turn of phrase, but came from a dark, bitter place. As a writer, I've always gravitated towards that feeling.[11]

In a video interview he says:

"I think my favorite pop song ever is this Elvis song called '(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame' . . I don't know if it's the best song, but it's just the most perfect pop record I've ever heard. It's the most perfect arrangement, brilliant playing ... sounds phenomenal. As a little piece of pop history ... to create something that perfect, that simple, would be great."[12]

In addition to his tenor singing voice, Thompson plays both the acoustic and electric guitar, and occasionally the ukulele. He has a strong, versatile and expressive voice which he uses both in the higher and lower vocal range with ease, but he apparently prefers using his voice in the middle register while singing. He stated in an interview that his voice was "his only weapon so to speak" in the early years as a vocalist and musician playing in his father's backing band. It has been said that Thompson has inherited much of his singing voice from his mother. He has also been compared vocally to Chris Isaak and Justin Hayward.

On Thompson's 2011 release Bella many critics comment on the striking vocal resemblance to singer Roy Orbison on many of the songs, especially on "Take Me Back Again" and "Take Care of Yourself" which on the latter Thompson soars into a perfect falsetto at the end of the song evoking the late 1960s singer.

Musical themes

Thompson's songs are often characterised by their personal and observational style and common use of black humour, such as "Turning the Gun on Myself" and "The Things I Do". He is also known for his ability of writing both personal and wry lyrics with a very melodic style, with such songs like "What's This?!!" and "In My Arms". As a lyricist, he has often been compared to his father, but has developed his own unique writing style. He is also said to have a knack of catching the exact state of mind into his songs, like in "Everybody Move It" and "Slippery Slope".

Teddy has said that "Everybody Move It" was inspired and partly based on personal experience with going out to clubs as a teenager, often ending up in a corner watching everybody else having all the fun.

Recurring themes in Thompson's music are love, loss, the look at fame ("You Made It", "Shine So Bright"), popular culture ("A Piece of What You Need"), and regarding much of his earlier work, self-loathing.

While on his first two albums written songs only in a first-person perspective, Teddy has also explored writing songs in the third person, most notably in "Jonathan's Book".

Rufus Wainwright states on the DVD which accompanied the "Release the Stars" album that the song "Nobody's Off the Hook" is about his friendship with Thompson.

Discography

Albums

Year Album Chart positions Label
UK
[13]		 IRE US Heat US Country
2000 Teddy Thompson — — — — Virgin
2005 Separate Ways 192 — — — Verve
Forecast
2007 Upfront & Down Low — — 19 49
2008 A Piece of What You Need 10 63 19 —
2011 Bella 42 94 6 — Decca / Verve
Forecast
2014 Family (credited to Thompson) 89 — 5 — Universal Music Group, Fantasy Records and
Forecast
2016 Little Windows (with Kelly Jones) 113 78 23 — Cooking Vinyl

EPs, etc.

Singles

Guest appearances

Compilation/soundtrack contributions

Video

References

  1. 1 2 "For Teddy Thompson, Music's a Family Affair" by David Dye, National Public Radio, 3 May 2006 (from WXPN).
  2. ↑ musicomh.com
  3. ↑ Teddy Thompson bio from Verve Music Group
  4. ↑ "The Official UK Singles Chart for the Week Ending 30 August 2008". ChartsPlus. Milton Keynes: IQ Ware Ltd (366): 1–4.
  5. ↑ Three Star USA Today Review
  6. ↑ New York Times Profile Album Release
  7. ↑ Holland, Simon (1 December 2014). "Thompson – Family". Folk Radio UK. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  8. ↑ Dominus, Susan (7 November 2014). "Teddy Thompson's Folk-Rock Family Reunion". New York Times. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Teddy Thompson with David Ford and Ashley Cleveland at celticconnections.com
  10. ↑ pitchforkmedia.com
  11. ↑ Teddy Thompson bio at Verve Music Group
  12. ↑ video interview, 2006, Hellcar Industries
  13. ↑ Peaks for Teddy Thompson in the United Kingdom:
  14. ↑ "Exclusive Teddy Thompson and Family "Christmas" song available on iTunes!". Verve Music. 15 December 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.