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Interview with Randy Thompson
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C. L: Randy it sounds like you are strong and independent, what made you like that? R. T: I just want to make music that’s real, I never really dreamed of being a star I am just really a huge fan of music and I like to play and make music that I think I would like if I heard it as a fan. I think country music more than anything outta be real music it outta be music that touches people and I just want to do something real, that’s the main thing that I want to do is connect with people in a deeper way than just hearing a song that gets repeated over and over. The music that I like that runs on me , I connect with in a real way so that’s what I want to do. C. L: Why is your album titled That’s Not Me? R. T: That’s a funny question I get that a lot in a lot of reviews. That’s the title song .We named the album after that song. It's called That’s Not Me, I just went through a divorce, a big change in life. That song is really about when something happens to you that’s really tough, everybody in life has an X amount of bad crap. That’s going to happen to you that song was from a period when my marriage was first breaking up I sorta went crazy. Feeling like your someone your not, from dealing with so much, so many thoughts running through your head. We just named the album after the title track but I hope this album is me a %100 me. C. L: Randy which artists influence you the most and why? R. T: That’s easy it’s Hank Williams Sr. of course he died a long time before I was born he died in 1953 but for some reason ever since I was three and four years old I would hear Hank Williams Sr. and I would just get goose bumps. I have my first Hank Williams record from when I was three years old I used to get my mom to turn it over because I couldn’t do it but that record is so worn out, you can barely hear it.I just play that over and over and over I bet I’ve played it ten thousand times when I was a kid. Hank Williams Sr. was real I don’t hear Hank Williams Sr. and to hear old to me that’s timeless,that for some reason spoke to me directly. C. L: Randy how do you see your audience influenced by your songs? R. T: I hope that my audience can hear a song and say hey I know how he feels, I’ve felt that way too, I can relate, to try to put something real and human in a song that’s what really turns me on about music that I like, I want to do that the same for my audience. C. L: Randy you write from personal experience, how does it feel to bare your soul to your audience? R. T: It’s a little funny because when I write a song, I don’t ever write a song thinking about playing it .I write a song really to myself, I often write as a way of working through my own thoughts it’s therapy to me, to write a song is a way of thinking my thoughts through, kinda like in a diary. I write songs as my own therapy it’s a funny feeling to have a really personal song out there just to be sung like a diddy or something but it feels good when it connects and that’s what it’s all about connecting with the audience, I love that. C. L: Randy, please tell us about your personal roots. R. T: Well I’m from Virginia my family has been in Virginia since the 1720’s so for 300 years or so my family has been in Virginia so there’s a strong Virginia music tradition that I grew up with .A lot of people playing bluegrass, people playing banjos and guitars just for fun just as a way to pass the time. Bluegrass music people would just get together and pick, I live in a town called Clifton which has two hundred people and we used to have a Thursday night bluegrass jam in the fire hall, you know once a week. So bluegrass music influenced me a lot, although I am not really a bluegrass artist but I can pick some bluegrass I love to play bluegrass. I also like the blues, there was an old black man named John Jackson who you may be familiar with is also from my town. He just passed away last year. He was on Rounder records, he’s been to Europe quite a few times, he was a big influence on me. When I was a little kid he came into the elementary school once and he was playing his guitar with a butter knife and I thought that was really cool, so we got to be really good friends. So the blues influence, but mostly country music and the music that’s connected to were I’m from starts to become a part of you, I feel really connected to Virginia, like Europeans are connected to your country a lot of Americans don’t have that because we move around so much but a lot do, that’s the way I feel about Virginia. C. L: How would you describe your music to someone that never heard it before? R. T: It’s country music, it’s also Americana, it’s not country music in the Shania Twain sense, I have been describing it as Americana music just because the whole term country music is sort of turned around in the last few years, country music is associated with more showy kind of music now than it used to be, I would just describe it as Country / Americana music just because you have to call it something right? That’s what I would call it. C. L: Randy what message would you send to your European fans and how can they keep in touch with you? R. T: I have gotten a lot of support in Europe I really appreciate it, I appreciate all you’ve done for me over there all the magazines and articles, the great reviews I’ve gotten out of Europe. I’m going to the UK in November, I have no plans right now to go to main land Europe but I will try to put a little tour together. I can be reached at my website www.randythompson.net you can order CD’s on there I’ve got distribution in some European countries and record stores. You can also e-mail on my website there’s a connection through www.randythompson.net you can e-mail me I would be happy to write you back I do appreciate all the great fans in Europe. Christian Lamitschka ( Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de )
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