Well, Vermont’s very own Lowell Thompson did this recently. He came to Texas to record some tracks in Austin and decided to schedule a date there and one in Houston. We were fortunate enough to get the heads up from our buddy and excellent guitar builder, Creston Lea, and made it out to Rudyard’s to see what the buzz in the Northeast was all about.

With nothing but an acoustic on his lap, Thompson faced an audience that had never heard any of his music. He also faced the threat of a big screen TV showing the Olympic games that was desperately trying to pull attention away from Thompson’s performance.

It was quite the ordeal to face with a first show in a city half a nation away from you home, but Thompson brought some great folksy songs with plenty of charm to go with it. He conversed with the audience between songs, toyed with a faulty pedal and kept people’s attention where it belonged, on the out of town performer.

Thompson touched on songs from his self-titled debut and some songs from a forthcoming CD, which he said would be out in October. While I was a little more clued in that some in attendance, I’d listened to his myspace tunes, I was still unaware of the majority of Thompson’s works. However, he kept my attention with his well crafted tunes. They were hooky enough to pull you into the sound and the narratives were intriguing enough to make you want to hear the story’s conclusion. There is something to be said for having that kind of storytelling ability.

A closer of Doug Sahm’s “Anyone Going to San Antone” got a few people singing along and made a nice shout-out to a local legend. Hopefully Lowell Thompson can make it back to town when his new album is released with his full band. If he does, you need to be there to check it out.
Visit Lowell on the web at: http://www.myspace.com/lowellthompson