Chris & Meredith Thompson CD Release with special guests The Kennedys

Chris & Meredith Thompson are "powerful performers with a natural warmth for the live concert stage" writes Tom Lounges in the Beat. Best known for the unique blend of their nearly identical voices, the Thompsons weave vocals, flute, guitar and percussion together creating a sound that is genuine, beautiful, and moving.
These identical twin sisters grew up down the street from Stone Soup Coffeehouse in Providence RI. They played their first show at Stone Soup in 1992, and have since played in venues across the US and released six albums. Chris plays percussive, riff driven guitar. Meredith plays authentic Latin rhythms on congas and adds flute to their sound. Both sisters sing in close harmony both earthy and ethereal. The Thompsons link music and stories together to create an engaging, animated performance rich in texture, mood and character. The Thompsons tell stories that resonate with the audience, stories that celebrate common experience. "It is their mix of intriguing stories of people's hopes and histories that makes the Thompsons music so compelling" writes MaryAnn Robertson, Spotlight, Portsmouth, NH.
With the release of their sixth CD, Live, Chris & Meredith Thompson showcase their vocal range on songs influenced by traditional spirituals. Chris & Meredith Thompson achieve a vocal harmony known uniquely to siblings. At times, their voices effortlessly combine in harmony as if they were two parts of one whole. Then, just as effortlessly, the individual voices will emerge, creating a vocal sound that has become their trademark.
The Thompsons return to their roots on this album, singing spiritual songs that they grew up with at Stone Soup and at the First Baptist Church in America. The Thompsons vocals are at times powerful and soulful on upbeat traditional spiritual songs such as “Hand on the Plow” and “Wayfaring Stranger”. The unique harmonies rival those of the most beautiful early music compositions, with their sisterly voices switching harmonies and melting into one, mesmerizing the listener with stark and graceful simplicity. Their harmonies are particularly stunning on a cappella tunes such as “Be Still My Soul” and “Amazing Grace.” The spare instrumentation on the album reflects the Thompson’s live performance, and allows their emotive vocals to shine through.
“Lines of Longitude” demonstrates the Thompson’s way with metaphor. This catchy upbeat song expresses awe and ancient map makers who could sketch the coastline without ever seeing it, the songs extends the metaphor to the challenges we face in our lives as we sketch our own “Lines of Longitude.” “Man in the Mountain” has a folky, old-time feel. The song likens the falling of New Hampshire’s famous landmark to the inevitable fall of our own parents as they age.
The Thompson’s latest CD Live captures the energy, power and grace of the Thompson’s live performance.

http://www.cmthompson.com/

Pete and Maura Kennedy, both East Coast natives, met in Austin, Texas, joined forces with Nanci Griffith’s Blue Moon Orchestra for a couple of years, and set out on a road that, for two decades, has led them not only west but all over the US and the UK many times. This year, they celebrate their twentieth anniversary both as a band and a married couple. Rather than indulge in a nostalgic look backward, they’ve taken Dylan’s dictum “don’t look back” to heart; writing and recording forty new songs.
2015 sees a Maura solo CD, a Pete solo CD, and the release of “West,” an instant classic Kennedys duo set that seamlessly weaves their influences over the last two decades; Buddy Holly style roots, the tuneful cadences of the Everly Brothers, and the ringing 12-string jangle of the early Byrds, interspersed with darker moments that recall British folk rock a la Fairport Convention.
Ultimately, Pete and Maura knit these disparate threads into a coat of many colors that sounds like a “best of The Kennedys,” but is in reality an all-new collection of songs. The road west is central to the American mythos; it’s the search for musical roots and the fulfillment of a personal American dream that takes shape in songs. Two decades on, The Kennedys are hitting a songwriting high point, and from that point they follow the well-worn American path West.

http://www.kennedysmusic.com/

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