With romantically charged #1 hits like “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” and “If I Didn’t Have You,” multi-platinum international success, and honors as Vocal Duo of the Year from both the ACM and CMA Awards, Country duo Thompson Square admit they don’t have much left on their bucket list. So for the husband-and-wife team of Keifer and Shawna Thompson, the next chapter of their career is about something different. “This album is called Masterpiece, and the definition of a masterpiece
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With romantically charged #1 hits like “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” and “If I Didn’t Have You,” multi-platinum international success, and honors as Vocal Duo of the Year from both the ACM and CMA Awards, Country duo Thompson Square admit they don’t have much left on their bucket list. So for the husband-and-wife team of Keifer and Shawna Thompson, the next chapter of their career is about something different. “This album is called Masterpiece, and the definition of a masterpiece is an artist’s life’s work,” Keifer explains, hinting at the creative satisfaction behind the duo’s third studio album.
“When we’re 80 years old and we look back, we want to be able to say we’re really proud of all the stuff we did.” Working independently for the first time, Masterpiece arrives at a tipping-point moment for the duo – and it finds them taking skillful control of their acclaimed musical bond. Brought together by love and undeniable talent, Keifer and Shawna each moved to Nashville separately in the early 2000s, but soon met while competing against one another in a local singing competition. They formed Thompson Square as complete unknowns, taking the Country scene by storm with an organic vocal blend that harkened back to the duets of icons like Johnny Cash and June Carter. For years they rode a wave of success rising from their Grammy-nominated, double-platinum breakout “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not,” traveling the world with superstars Jason Aldean and Lady Antebellum and racking up Country-radio favorites like the devoted “I Got You” (Top 10 in 2011) and the flirty “Everything I Shouldn’t Be Thinking About” (Top 5 in 2013). But after 17 years of marriage and the birth of their first child in 2016 – a son named Rigney Cooper – their priorities have realigned, and they’ve started chasing another dream. Parting ways with their former record label on good terms, the duo were set free to create a project with the help of top-shelf producers Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift) and Dann Huff (Keith Urban), but without the diluting influence of any Music Row machinery. What emerged truly is their Masterpiece, an album filled with all the passionate potency Thompson Square is known for, plus a fearless new range of sounds and personality.
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