Virginia's Piedmont region has provided a backdrop for some of our history's most turbulent and formative events and produced an uncommonly rich variety of compelling musical styles and voices, from blues to country to bluegrass and beyond. It's a heritage that Virginia-based singer/songwriter Randy Thompson intuitively understands and brings vividly to life on his third release, Further On, a work that lovingly embraces the past even as it pulls it - kicking, picking, singing, rocking - all the way into the 21st Century.
With a Virginia bloodline that traces back to the early 1700s, Thompson, who now resides in the small town of Clifton, Virginia, gives new meaning to the term "roots music." And like his musical antecedents, he tends to draw inspiration directly from his own experience, creating starkly drawn musical and lyrical pictures.
His 1998 debut, Wearin' Blue, garnered widespread critical raves, while his 2004 sophomore release 'That's Not Me' generated significant national and international airplay, debuting at No. 1 on the Euro Indie Radio chart and reaching top 40 on national Americana, Country, and Roots Rock charts. AboutCountry.com, among others, listed 'That's Not Me' as a top 10 album of 2004. The Washington Post deemed it, "a superb disc."
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The new 'Further On' takes Thompson's artistry to a whole new level. Forged on the road and carved from hard-lived experience, the album, like the artist himself, is naturally resistant to pigeonholes. Call it country, call it roots music, call it Americana; in the end it's the sound of Randy Thompson, raw and real. It's the sound of an artist who knows where he comes from and where he stands. It's the sound of the Virginia hills, of war and peace and love and fear. Further On is the sad, simple, beautiful sound of the truth.
