[3]
By
Published: 2007
Category: Rock [4]
When last we considered Teddy Thompson, he was building his cult. An elite cult, because Separate Ways [5] was so damn special that you could say, well, a lot of people just didn't have ears good enough for it.
Except it wasn't “special.” And it wasn't “too good.” It was great writing and great music and a remarkable voice, start to finish, without a single dud. I don't know why only a few of my nearest and dearest flipped for it. Maybe because it was depressing, in a wonderfully funny way.
Like this line: “I wish when the phone rang/it wasn't always you.”
Not exactly a universal sentiment, is it?
Or is that that Teddy is British, and royalty at that? (His father is the exalted guitarist Richard Thompson [6] and his mother is singer Linda Thompson.) Or is it his wit in live performance, usually directed against himself, but cutting nonetheless?
Whatever. Let's call Teddy Thompson an acquired taste --- until the day one of his songs becomes an unlikely hit and tens of thousands rush back to fall in love with all the great music they so breezily rejected.
And what of the follow-up to “Separate Ways”?
It's no follow-up at all. “Upfront & Down Low” is country. Classic country, if you will: songs by George Jones, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, the Everly Brothers, Elvis. Thompson uses a standard backup band, but he adds a string section, courtesy of the arranger responsible for the strings on Nick Drake's CDs. [7]
Videos
[7]I Should Get Up [8]
Everybody Moving [9]
Shine So Bright [10]
[7]
Sounds like a vanity project? Not in the least. Teddy Thompson --- who didn't hear music that wasn't country until he was 16 --- understands this music completely. And delivers it authentically. But that understates. What happens in “Upfront & Down low” is captured magic, the alchemy of great taste and a compelling voice.
I went to see Teddy Thompson preview this CD in a downtown club. It was one of those rare nights: a small room, no more than a hundred people in the audience, all of them very much on the singer's side. Two violinists, a cellist and a string bass player came onstage first, then a drummer and a slide guitarist, then Thompson. Hard to miss him --- he was wearing a white suit. “I'm from the corporate office of Willie Wonka,” he explained.
Naturally he apologized for the tone of the songs: “These songs are depressing. That's what country music is about.”
But the songs needed no apology. They were flawless, if not exactly fun, and the title song, which he wrote, just might be the best. That song was, of course, the most depressing. Funny. I can't get it out of my head,
To buy “Upfront & Down Low” from Amazon.com, click here [11].
To buy “Separate Ways” from Amazon.com, click here. [12]
To buy “Teddy Thompson” from Amazon.com, click here. [13]
For Teddy Thompson's web site, click here. [14]