Thompson Square

Thompson Square, the husband-and-wife country duo of Keifer Thompson and Shawna Thompson, fuses classic rock, country, and singer/songwriter influences into a crisp, appealing country-pop sound. In Chatom, Alabama, Shawna absorbed radio performances by Alabama and Reba McEntire while acquiring country material from her father, who played guitar. Keifer, raised in Miami, Oklahoma, absorbed everything from Roger Miller and Merle Haggard to punk rock and heavy metal, later sharpening his songwriting through repeated listens to Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. The pair moved to Nashville during the same week and crossed paths days afterward at a singing competition, an encounter universally described as love at first sight. Each maintained separate solo careers in the city for several years before choosing to perform as a duo. Their forward-looking style quickly stirred industry interest, prompting an early-2010 deal with Stoney Creek Records and immediate work on a debut album. The label released the first single, “Let’s Fight,” in June 2010, then issued the follow-up, “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not,” one month later in July.