BILL PHELPS
Fit that boy with a Stetson and never mind that he's from London. Teddy Thompson, son of British folk legends Richard and Linda Thompson, has released “Up Front & Down Low,” featuring heartbreak songs popularized by the likes of Merle Haggard and Ernest Tubbs. |
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He has joked that going country could be career suicide. Teddy Thompson is, after all, the son of British folk legends Richard and Linda Thompson and his 2005 release, “Separate Ways,” would fall into the folk rock category.
But the London-born singer needn't worry. His new album, “Up Front & Down Low,” is filled with 13 cuts that would tease a tear from the toughest cowboy.
With an emotive and soulful voice that is devoid of his British accent, he delivers heartrending interpretations of such chestnuts as Merle Haggard's, “(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers,” Ernest Tub's “Walking the Floor Over You” and the Elvis Presley gem “I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone.”
“I did grow up listening to country music and I just started by looking for good songs,” said Thompson, who will open for Suzanne Vega Saturday at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.
“I had a good time digging through box sets and once I got them together, I noticed that I unconsciously chose songs that were similar. Many of them have that country thing I love, which is a hook that is sad and funny at the same time. There's almost a comedic turn of phrase about heartbreak. People think it's weird that I like country music, but that perverse sense of humor is very English. I think that has a lot to do with why I like those songs.”
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Suzanne Vega, with Teddy Thompson
When: Saturday, 9 p.m.
Where: Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach
Tickets: $20 to $22
Phone: (858) 481-8140
Online: bellyup.com
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Come to think of it, the song “You Finally Said Something Good When You Said Goodbye,” one of the up-tempo numbers Thompson sings on “Up Front & Down Low,” is just the sort thing Simon Cowell would say to an American Idol contestant.
Though he's attracted to the rather dark turn of phrase, Thompson sings with believable sincerity – almost as if he were tapping into his own frustration and heartbreak.
Born in 1976, Thompson's early years were spent in a Muslim commune. His parents were a powerful musical duo before they went through an ugly public divorce in the early 1980s. After an American tour to support the critically acclaimed 1982 album “Shoot Out the Lights,” Linda Thompson virtually disappeared from the music scene while Richard Thompson continued recording and touring.
After his parents separated, Teddy Thompson attended an English boarding school, then moved to Los Angeles when he was 18 to begin his musical career. Both of his parents remarried in 1985.
In 2002, Thompson helped his mother make a comeback by co-writing “Fashionably Late,” an album that received four-star reviews from numerous music publications including Rolling Stone magazine. His father supported the project by playing guitar and singing background.
Teddy Thompson said he learned much from and about his mother during the project.
“It was an unusual collaboration,” he said. “There aren't too many mother-and-son writing teams. I learned that I have folk music blood in me and it's good to know that I could write in that style. My mom doesn't really play an instrument, she mostly writes lyrics. I think we all learned that she's really good.”
On “Up Front & Down Low,” one song titled “Down Low” is original. The inspiration was a real breakup, but Thompson said he would rather not discuss the details.
Love, I've been thinking of you and the things I used to do and the trouble I made. / Love, you'd be better off dead, with a bullet in your head, then to come back to me / Keep it on the down low, and tell everybody you know, I loved you more than I showed.
“Yes, well, I was super-happy when I wrote it,” quipped Thompson with his usual dark humor. “I was sitting in a field of flowers and bunny rabbits. It's not the classic country song – but the sentiment behind it fit quite well.”
Marcia Manna covers North County arts and entertainment for the Union-Tribune.
