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Biography
Templeton Thompson
knows a thing or two about bouncing back. At age 16, the then fledgling
guitarist suffered an accident that all but severed two of the fingers
on her left hand. “I’ve been a horse girl since I was born, I knew how
to handle horses but on that particular day, I was tying a horse (who,
I later found out, had been abused), the horse pulled back, my hand
got caught between the lead rope and what I was tying him to…that’s
why I play “lefty” now” she says. Eight surgeries managed to save the
fingers but left her with very limited mobility in that hand. “I couldn’t
make chords with that hand after that, but I could hold a pick…and I
still had music in me that needed a way out… so I got a left handed
guitar and started over. Honestly, I didn’t think that much about it
and I never thought of it as a handicap. I can’t make the peace sign
with my left hand and it does limit my “non-verbal communication” with,
say, a rude driver passing me on my left but, honestly it was more like,
well, there’s that… what’s next?”
When
Templeton’s music did find a way out, it was in a big way. After moving
to Nashville, she landed her first publishing deal and soon her songs
were being recorded by million-selling country artists like Reba McEntire, Jo Dee Messina, Little Texas and others. “I was
blown away when I heard that Reba was cutting one of my songs…it was
my first “big” cut and Reba is one of my musical heroes. I was FLOORED
when they called and asked me to sing on the record!” Others were asking her to sing as well and it
wasn’t long before Templeton was the first-call session vocalist for
many of Nashville’s other top songwriters. “I got to sing hundreds of
demos for some great writers. It was a great way to learn how to make
records.”
While
her Music Row career was flourishing, Thompson was also feeling the
pull of the world outside of Nashville. “I wanted to get out and play…
I’d toured a pretty good bit, a few trips to Europe, a three-month house
gig at a little place in Japan… I was also playing around Nashville
some… The Bluebird Café, that sort of thing, but the main focus at the
time was writing so I was spending more time on the Row than on the
road.” So, in 2003, Templeton (along with her husband/co-writer/producer
Sam Gay) hit the road. “We put together my first CD “i
remember you,” had a thousand copies pressed up and headed for Texas.
We were aware of the great music scene in Texas and I’m a Texas girl
so, when we decided to really focus on touring, that’s where the compass
pointed.”
Templeton
released her first single “if i didn’t need
the money” to Texas radio in 2004. “Sam and I felt like Loretta and
Doolittle Lynn driving from one radio station to another all over Texas.”
The effort landed the song in the top-5 on the Texas Music Chart for
7 weeks and her CD “i still feel” was voted
by Texas DJs and program directors as one of the top releases of 2004.
“We played so much in Texas that a lot of our Nashville buddies thought
we’d moved out there and, in a way, we kind of did. We’d leave home,
be gone for 2 or 3 weeks then come back to the house for 3 or 4 days
then back out for another long Texas run. We played everything from
funky little beer joints to the Astrodome. It was sort of like my boot
camp as a touring artist.”
In
those times when Templeton is not on the road, she can almost always
be found in the pasture behind her little white farm house in Dickson
County, TN pursuing her other great passion, horses. “I did some barrel
racing when I was a kid in Texas, fox hunted some as a teenager in Maryland
and was on the University of Virginia Riding Team and the UVA Polo Team
but, more than that, horses have always been my refuge. I don’t know
of anything more healing for me, than burying my tear-soaked self in
a horse’s mane.” In 2005 Thompson began including major horse events
in her touring schedule. “It was kind of a natural progression, horses
have been such a huge part of my life and they keep showing up in my
songs so playin’ for horse lovin’
people seemed like the next right thing to do. Plus, it gave us the
chance to play for thousands of people on a given weekend at the bigger
horse expos. In the last couple of years, I’ve taken my mare “Jane”
to some of the bigger events, performing with her is one of my favorite
things to do, she’s a ROCKSTAR.”
To
date, Templeton has recorded five CDs all on her own “rêve rêcords” label. “It’s hard
to believe we’re on the fifth one. When we got that first thousand of
the first record I thought “how in the world are we gonna
sell all these CDs? I think I still get that feeling, a little, when
we get big shipments even after selling quite a few thousand. We’re
literally a mom and pop shop. Sam and I handle every aspect of getting
our music “out there” from writing to producing and recording, layout
and design, photography, web design, marketing, distribution…it’s a
lot of hats to wear and it can be challenging to keep up with everything
but we don’t have to run anything past a committee. The music goes straight
from us to the listener…unfiltered…it isn’t run past a room full of
“suits” trying to decide what people want to hear. The PEOPLE get to
decide what they want to hear and I think that’s a good thing.”
Of
the ups and downs of life as an independent recording artist, Templeton
says, “You know, we’ve been broke at times and we’ve had it pretty good
at others but there’s never been a time when I haven’t loved and appreciated
what I get to do to make a living. I learned from ridin’ horses all these years, sometimes you get bucked off
and you can either bounce back up and keep goin’
or you can walk away. I guess I’m a bouncer. I know I’m a blessed
cowgirl!”
Music
Row Magazine’s Robert Oermann recently reviewed
the title track of Templeton’s “life on planet cowgirl” CD. ”The
title tune to this lady’s latest is a rippling little gem. Sparkling
guitar licks, a heartfelt vocal and a sunny lyric are the calling cards
here.”
Oermann’s take on Templeton’s Texas Radio hit.
TEMPLETON
THOMPSON/If I Didn't Need the Money
-"Templeton
Thompson," love the name. It sounds like the moniker of a star.
And, happily, her zesty vocal sounds star-like, too. There's energy
and fire in this upbeat country-rocker.
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