…so many great players – Tim Stafford, Josh Rinkel, Laurie Lewis, Claire Lynch and our Northwest players Steve Blanchard, Dale Adkins and Don Share! It was such a treat to add a workshop to this year’s WinterGrass experience, thanks Steve for the idea and helping make it happen!
The Thompson tasting workshop was Friday morning and featured 6 talented musicians, all speaking about their Thompson guitars. One topic they touched on over and over related to the consistency of our tone, making us proud of the techniques we have perfected and refined over the past 5 years. Then we offered up another 6 Thompson’s for them to all try out, including Peter Rowan’s 000-Brazilian Deluxe that Preston made in the 1980’s. Tim Stafford enjoyed hearing the sweet tone of that 35 year old 000 Thompson close up. It sure was fun to witness their initial reactions of the sound each guitar produced and how it felt in their hands. The last few minutes they all played together, which was the perfect ending to a wonderful hour.
Here is a video of the workshop – what a great morning! Thanks everyone.
Many folks stopped by to visit us at our booth, which was next to BlueChip Picks, loved meeting Matt and Robert in person – such fun guys! Claire Lynch and Laurie Lewis shared their sweet voices and Billy Strings came to pick a few licks.
We also had several talented upcoming musicians sample our guitars; like Joe Cicero from Fireside Collective, Joe Suskind from Portland and seasoned player Woody Platt from Steep Canyon Rangers.
Joel Chadd and Gareth Jenkins talked to many people that inquired about how we make our guitars, why they sound the way they do and what each model has to offer. Thanks for all your hard work.
Friday night we arranged for Billy Strings and Peter Rowan to meet up and recorded a few tunes – The Hotel Sessions – Part 1, 2 and 3. What a special treat to see the different generations sharing their musical talents with each other. The established bluegrass community of musicians are always encouraging to younger players, passing on the music and knowledge of their craft.
The days/nights were filled with music and we wished we could have seen it all. Highlights for us were seeing Blue Highway with the talented Tim Stafford, Billy Strings, Peter Rowan, Po’Ramblin Boys and Laurie playing with Hills to Hollers.
Photos by Joel Chadd Photography – not only part of the Thompson building team, but a great photographer too!
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