Over the years we have hosted several artist workshops in and around our shop to share the sound of our guitars. During the most recent Sisters Folk Festival we were able to hear several talented guitar players pick on different models that were made with a variety of tonewoods. If you are interested in a Thompson guitar take a look at our gallery of build options : ) All of the guitars have an Adirondack Spruce topped hand craved and graduated by the talented Gareth Jenkins. Gareth has been with the company during many festivals and has heard so much talent come through our shop.
Here are some videos of those musicians that have played our guitars (adding more to the playlist so keep checking back) at the Sisters Folk Festival over the years. Enjoy the music!
An outside workshop with The Fireside Collective gave way to having an array of our guitars picked by some very talented young musicians. They are capturing the attention of so many as they travel the country growing their audiences at each festival – I know they made a few new fans at this one! We appreciated them enjoying time from the stage to workshop some of our guitars this year.
Back in 2016 we started to record some of the players coming through our shop – we didn’t have a workshop during the SFF at that point, but having musicians see how we make our guitars inspired us to combine the two things – guitar playing within the space that created the vehicle for talented music to be heard. Here are a few of those exceptional players from Chuck Prophet, Max Gomez, Laurie Lewis, Jeff Wilson, locals Mark Barringer and Jason Chinchen, Molly Tuttle and Chris Eldridge and finally our own builder David Peto.
Laurie Lewis has been playing a Thompson in her guitar rotation since 2016 – we made her an OM-Brazilian model and I remember that Preston was so thrilled she was interested in owning a Thompson – their friendship and connection with Charles Sawtelle dated back to the 1980’s. We love Laurie’s voice and music, so happy she is part of the Thompson family. Her guitar build made Preston especially proud of what he had accomplished by carrying on tradition of guitar building for the next generation of players too!
In 2017 Trey Hensley came through Sisters and was smitten by a guitar we shared with him at the SFF Winter Concert series and a few months later at Wintergrass it was in his capable hands. The next year he came to the summer festival and we featured Trey and Rob Ickes at our shop. They played some tunes and answered questions about their careers and playing styles.
Peter Rowan is a musician that is dear to our heart in many ways. He supported Preston after purchasing a Thompson guitar at Winfield in the 1980’s and again by being a part of the Thompson shop when Preston put things together in Sisters. He was also the subject of a documentary I made called the Tao of Bluegrass so to have him be a part of the guitar shop I run has been very special. Love having him close by at the 2019 festival!
Since the festival wasn’t held in 2020 there was a lack of music played in and around our shop – this feeling of quietness vanished In 2021 when we decided to hold the workshop outside in the beautiful fall weather – the crowds were too much for our small shop to take on and with Covid still around, outside seemed like a better option. AJ Lee and Blue Summit took time out to share some guitar sounds via the talented Sully Tuttle and Jesse Fichman.
Eric Bibb was an early visitor to our shop and so here is a final video that offers up Eric amazing voice and playing style all his own. Thank you to all the artists that come visit during this special time in Sisters – more videos will be added to the playlist soon from 2022!
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