Difference between revisions of "Chris Thompson"

Revision as of 08:59, 4 October 2013

1973 cover of the self titled "Chris Thompson" album

Christopher Malcolm Thompson is a singer/songwriter who has recorded with such luminaries as John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) and Dave McArtney (Hello Sailor). He also played guitar for well known Californian folk singer Julie Felix, and toured with Stevie Ray Vaughan. While in England in the early 1970s Chris jammed with British Folk-Blues legends Wizz Jones and Davey Graham. In 1974 Chris toured with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee; he has maintained a lifelong friendship with Brownie, for whom he wrote a song ("Letter to Brownie"), which was videoed by TVNZ. Chris has had three albums reach the finals of the N.Z. Music Industry awards and had his songs recorded by N.Z. artists Mike Harding, Jimmy Young, James Wilkinson and Chris Priestley, and internationally by Meg Baird of the Philadelphia neo-folk group The Espers. Most recently, Chris' song "Where is my Wild Rose?" has been recorded by Robin Pecknold of The Fleet Foxes.

Chris is an old boy of Southwell School and has spent most of his life in and around Hamilton, where he recorded Hometown Voodoo in 1981; this album contains the song "Hamilton", about the city. This song has become widely known due to a version played by Big Muffin Serious Band. He moved to Auckland in 1985, and married a Canadian-born musician and songwriter Lynne, with whom he has released two albums. They relocated to Raglan in 1988. Chris is now living in Hamilton again, near his daughter Lora. Lora has played bass in the heavy metal band "Wretch" and the Pantera tribute band "101 Proof". Most recently, Lora has been playing guitar and singing in the alt.rock/grunge group Cheshire Grimm.

In 2000 Chris released the track Vox Populi on the Hamilton compilation Acoustic Magic. Other projects have included recorded some tracks with Tim Armstrong in 2007, taking part in "The Monday Club" project, playing with Emit Snake-Beings in "The Dirt Band" - with whom he has made several Youtube videos (see below) - and completed his Arts degree at Waikato University in 2009. In 2010 a double CD, titled Chris Thompson, was released by Sunbeam Records(U.K.), an anthology of Chris' work featuring twenty-six selections from Chris' 40 years of recording. Chris and well-known local musician Stan Jagger are currently working together, playing mainly Chris' songs and instrumentals. They gave their debut performance in a concert at Biddy Mulligan's Irish Bar in September 2011. They also have released a CD, recorded live in the studio by Chris' daughter Lora and have played clubs and festivals in Hamilton and Raglan. In May 2012, Chris was interviewed for The New Zealand Musician Magazine [1]. He is currently teaching guitar at Matangi School and playing with The Dirt Band. Most recently, Chris has moved back to Raglan after an absence of ten years, and is playing with Redgie Valente and Rene Andre ('The Wild Accusations') at Valente's Restaurant.

Releases

Chris Thompson (Anthology) cover art

• Chris Thompson (album) album, 1973
  
• Echoes from the Pit album, 1975
  
• Minstrelsy album, 1977
  
• Hometown Voodoo album, 1981
  
• The Natural Blues album, 1983
  
• The Road to Raglan album, 1990
  
• Far Out and Solid album, 1992
  
• Coffee Break album, 1993
  
• Song for Laura album, 1995
  
• Time Flies album, 2000
  
• For my Double album, 2004
• The White Sapphire album, 2005
• Chris Thompson (Anthology), 2010
• Chris Thompson and Stan Jagger album, 2011

as Chris and Lynne Thompson:

• Together album, 1985
  
• Live in Concert album, 1988
  

Compilations:

• I Wanna Be Me appears on the 1979 compilation Festival Music
• Ain't No Telling, The Coffin On The Baggage Train Ahead and Diamond Blues appear on the 1982 compilation Paths - New Songs of New Zealand
• Poor Little Thing and She should have been a Lady (by Chris and Lynn Thompson) appear on the 1985 compilation Auckland Acoustics
• Vox Populi appears on the 2000 compilation Acoustic Magic
• Back In The City appears on the compilation Sitar Cerebrations Vol 2

External Links

White Sapphire cover

Videos on Youtube:

• Chris Thompson - Take Two
• Chris Thompson - Crossroads Blues
• Chris Thompson - When I am Dead
• Television New Zealand Interview/performance of Only one way out of town, 1993
• Chris Thompson and Big Muffin Serious Band - Hamilton
• Chris Thompson and Stan Jagger - Grocer's Blues

with The Dirt Band:

• The Dirt Band - Ma
• The Dirt Band - Maeridee
• The Dirt Band - Beautiful
• The Dirt Band - The Clown

This Chris Thompson should not be confused with Chris Thompson, the vocalist from Manfred Mann, who also spent time in Hamilton, including attending Hamilton Boys High School.