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INTERVIEW: Teddy Thompson kicks off our 2022 shows

Teddy Thompson + Roseanne Reid
Jan/Feb 2022 Tour
- info & tickets here

Born of folk royalty – Richard Thompson is his father and his mother is singer Linda Thompson - Teddy Thompson has developed into a charismatic live performer, writing his own songs that sound like classics and making great songs his own. He’s touring nationally through January and into February, starting out with a soldout show at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow. He’s finally able to play live the songs from Heartbreaker Please, his most recent album, released on 30 Tigers, and Sandy Boyce asked him what influences had gone into the making of the album?

“I’ve always liked the directness of country music. I first got into it when my dad used to take me and my sister on road trips to Scotland. The cassettes in the car were probably a compromise between what he wanted to listen to and what we kids would tolerate, but that’s where I first fell in love with Hank Williams and the Everly Brothers. The Everlys were more pop than country, I suppose, but they shared that quality of songwriting that really inspires me – short, sad, funny and heartbreaking songs that are really worked out and deeply personal”. As Elmore Magazine said, reviewing Heartbreaker Please, 'Teddy Thompson’s plain-spoken words tap into something universal and his singing is as heartfelt as ever. Having your heart broken rarely sounds so appealing.'

Asked how he felt about touring at the moment, Teddy was pretty direct. “Any venue that doesn’t want me to play had better chain up the front doors, because I’m really keen to get in front of my audiences. I love that sense of living inside the songs and bringing them to life which you can only do when people are responding to your music live. I’ve been in Britain since Christmas getting ready to tour with guitarist Zak Hobbs (another member of the Thompson clan), and more than ever, I’m keen to try new things, whether that’s taking further the orchestral work we did with Robert Kirby before he died or taking on new challenges and collaborations. I’ve asked Roseanne Reid (Scottish songwriter, Steve Earle protegee and daughter of Craig Reid from The Proclaimers) to open on the tour – I loved producing her first album Trails, and I can’t wait to hear her on the road”.

Teddy Thompson and Roseanne Reid will be touring nationally in January and February
– for full details and bookings see www.serious.org.uk/Thompson

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