Thompson Square After 15 years, overnight success

By CHRIS TALBOTT

AP Entertainment Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Shawna Thompson was ready to quit and go home.

Nearly 15 years of chasing, of singing in dives and dreary showcases, of near misses and soul-sucking jobs and tears and worried sleeplessness had pushed her to the edge. It was time to give up on Music City because surely it had given up on her and her husband Kiefer.

“I told him my heart can’t take it anymore,” she said.

It was one of those relationship moments, the kind they sing about as the duo Thompson Square. One was wavering and the other wasn’t ready to give it up. It had happened before, but this time she seemed so sad, so ready to go back to Chatom, Ala., in defeat.

“We were right there on the cusp. And I said, ‘I swear, this is the last time I’ll say this: Give it one more year. Something’s going to happen. I feel it in my bones,”’ Kiefer Thompson remembered.

He was right, this time.

“Two months later we got a record deal,” Kiefer said.

The rest has happened in a kind of a dream state for the Thompsons. Not long after signing that deal, they released their self-titled debut album and their first single, “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not,” went to No. 1. They’ve been on tour with Jason Aldean, are headed out with Lady Antebellum, and have received a slew of award nominations, including in the new artist of the year category at Wednesday’s Country Music Association Awards.

The decision to merge their personalities into one act was the key to their success — it just took them a while to realize it. Shawna came to town at 18 with a development deal. Kiefer, an Oklahoma native, moved here two weeks after college with a strong feeling things were going to work out. They hit town the same week and met at the place where everyone went to sing and get noticed.

“I went up and asked her to play pool and she sharked me because she didn’t tell me her dad had a pool hall growing up,” Kiefer said. “She schooled me and pretty much couldn’t get rid of me at that point, and we haven’t been apart any time since then.”

There were stretches though where things weren’t in sync. She might have a high, while he was at a low. He might score a gig as a guitar player and hit the road while she might be stuck at home, arranging topiaries at a craft store.

About seven years ago they decided they wanted to attack it as a team. They would succeed together or fail together. No one would break them up.

And for a long time, it looked like they’d fail together. By the time their friend and future manager Shawn Pennington called to say he’d be bringing a couple of record execs to their next showcase in 2009, they were pretty much done. Shawna had given Kiefer his year, but it still seemed futile nonetheless.

Six weeks later they had a record deal with independent label Stoney Creek Records, and all those things that had left countless A&R people unimpressed before were suddenly strengths.