Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.
Sure enough. But what about country singers?
Mama Laurie Thompson and daddy David Thompson are raising country-singer-to-be John Thompson, a 13-year-old from Clinton who has the stage presence of George Strait, the hankering to be the next Johnny Cash and his sights set on Nashville.
Is it wrong to start him so young? What about the competition, the grueling hours, the heartbreaks? What about his school work?
“He’s got an incredible passion for his music,” said Laurie Thompson. “How many of us can say that?”
Dad says he takes it a day at a time. John says in his short time on Earth, being a country singer is all he’s ever wanted. A snapshot exists in the family photo album with John wearing mud boots and a diaper and holding a guitar.
“It’s always been a dream of mine,” said John, who has syrupy brown eyes and a sweet personality to match.
And John is doing what he can to live that dream. He is scheduled to perform at the Remlinger Farms Strawberry Harvest Festival in Carnation on Saturday. After that, he’ll be at the Founders Day Celebration in Cashmere on June 23. And after that, it’ll be one of those summers like it has been, in which John spends a lot of time on stage.
This year, John has been invited to perform at The Merritt Mountain Music Fest 2007, held in British Columbia. The Merritt Mountain Festival is the largest of its kind in Canada, featuring crowds in excess of 140,000, with headliners like Reba McIntire and Gretchen Wilson. After that, John returns home for the Loganberry Festival at Greenbank Farm, the Island County Fair, and a number of other fairs and festivals in Washington state.
That’s the way it has been for this rising country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Last year, he did 15 shows and fairs. He’s fired up audiences for the likes of Grand Old Opry singer Hal Ketchum, and when he was about 8 years old, he opened for “Queen of Hearts” Juice Newton at the Island County Fair. He has been the featured artist on “Radio Lia Show” on KMPS FM 94.1 and has performed on “Live from the Islands” on KSER FM 90.7.
John has been playing guitar since he was 6 and has had voice lessons since he was 4. Today, he owns four guitars and one banjo, and the microphone is his friend.
“I love the mic,” said John. “It gives you that feeling of being in front of a lot of people. Once you do it, it doesn’t become scary anymore. The bigger the audience, the better I play.”
His mom added, “He’s always been able to play the guitar and sing along.” Mom doesn’t know where it comes from. Neither she nor dad plays an instrument, and Laurie Thompson said she can’t even clap to a beat.
But both parents support their son’s passion for music and his love of everything country. They say he has a George Strait/Johnny Cash performance style because he doesn’t do much dancing, just walks onto the stage, dressed in his country finest boots and cowboy hat and introduces himself with “Hello, I’m John Thompson” before opening with “Folsom Prison Blues.”
“I like to do Johnny Cash,” John said while he noodled around playing tunes in his home guitar room, which is painted in a sky blue with clouds and has a dinosaur scene border, a sweet reminder of how young this rising star really is. “I open the show with his name because mine is John and I thought it would be funny to say ‘Hi. I’m John Thompson,’ and I like the way his songs sound so why not add it to the show?”
John does some Cash and includes tunes like “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” and “Chicks Dig It!” John and family friend John Case wrote a Chuck Berry-esque tune called “Duct Tape Man,” which plays tribute to the many uses for duct tape.
At school, the kids ask John to do “Duct Tape Man.” And when he plays it onstage, Laurie Thompson said the crowd goes crazy.
That’s the beauty and wonder of country music. It makes the most of the music and lyrics, John said, and “there’s a lot you can do with it.”
Arts writer Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.
Stadler Studio photo
13-year-old country singer John Thompson hails from Clinton on Whidbey Island.
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