ACM Award-winning husband-and-wife duo Thompson Square released their last album, Masterpiece, in 2018. Today (May 16), they released “You Were There” as the lead single from their forthcoming EP. The track is also their first release as independent artists, marking a significant turning point in their shared career.
Videos by American Songwriter
Ahead of today’s release, Thompson Square–Keifer and Shawna Thompson–sat down with American Songwriter to talk about their new life as independent artists. During the conversation, they talked about the new single and what’s next for them.
[RELATED: Interview: The Meaning Behind Thompson Square’s Romantic “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not”]
Thompson Square on “You Were There”
Thompson Square didn’t write the new single. However, it resonated with them so deeply that they knew they had to cut it.
“So, the song was pitched to us, and the first listen, I just started bawling,” Shawna Thompson recalled. “It wasn’t just the first listen. I listened to it probably ten times in a row, and every time it just hit me. I feel like if it’s doing that to me, it’ll do that to our fans and they’ll appreciate it as well,” she explained.
“J.T. Harding and Josh Osborne are not slouches, and they know what they’re doing when they write a song. And, man, they just knocked it out of the park on this one. It hits you right in the gut, right in the heart,” she added.
“As artists and writers, you always want to write your own songs and record your own songs,” Keifer Thompson said. “But, as an artist, you also have to be cognizant of a song that comes down the pipe that you get ahold of and you’re like this is a difference maker. This is a song that I don’t have right now. This is a song that says something that I want to say, but they said it in a way that I never would have come up with. Or the timing of the song is just perfect,” he explained.
Going Independent and New Music
Thompson Square recently left their label and moved out of Nashville to start a new chapter of their lives. They’re currently gearing up to give fans a truckload of new music.
“We recently got out of our record deal, and we’re 100% independent artists again. We’re loving that, loving the fact that we have control of our music and our lives and all of that,” Keifer Thompson said. Then, he revealed that today’s single is the first look at their next release.
“The new EP will come out in the fall,” Thompson revealed. “We were in the process of making a record at our label when we left. So, we bought back those masters, and that’s going to the EP this fall. Next year, there will be another record on top of that. So, there will be a lot of new music coming in the next six to 18 months,” he added.
“We’re going to be very busy,” Shawna Thompson said.
Thompson Square Is Feeling Refreshed
“For me, 100%,” Keifer Thompson said when asked if going independent gave the duo a creative boost. “We moved out of Nashville, too. We’d been there almost 30 years. So, this is a big step for us to leave Nashville and everything that we knew there,” he added. “As a writer, I was looking for some new inspiration. I think location was part of that. Since we’ve been down here, we’ve been cranking out songs. It’s a whole different vibe and different stimuli. The beach is right across the street. We can hear the water rushing in at night. You don’t get that in Nashville.”
However, it is more than an oceanfront view that has Thompson Square champing at the bit to create and release new music. They also have newfound artistic freedom. “The pressure is off. We’re not forced to record songs we don’t want to record or release songs we don’t want to release. We can just kind of do whatever we want,” Keifer said. “I think, for us, the most important thing is to give our fans who we are instead of an interpretation of who someone else thinks we are. That’s exactly what we’re giving them with this new album.”
Shawna Thompson hinted at how this freedom might impact their next full-length record. “The birth of Thompson Square was acoustic music. That’s how we started, playing out on Broadway. That’s what we enjoy doing.”
Featured Image by Catherine Powell/Getty Images
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.