Douglass Thompson – It Was a Good Plan (Live at the Evening Muse)

Professional songwriting is a skill that can’t be taught, but rather you must live thru the experience and somehow get it on to paper. Some folks write to get stardom while others write from the heart to express themselves. Douglass Thompson is a songwriter who writes from the heart, and he’s not one of those types of “Tortured Artist” type of song-writers either. It’s a craft that he has carved out to produce honesty, wit, and most importantly the truth.

The Wisconsin native, who now lays his head in city of Charlotte NC, has a collection of his own songs on record now called It Was a Good Plan (Live at the Evening Muse). As you can tell by the name of the album, it was recorded live with the great Chuck Johnson as the producer.

It was a rainy night, along with Jerry Jeff Walker’s birthday, where a full band full of great arrangements that added depth to Doug’s clever way with words. The sound of this album is chock-filled with great arrangements, ranging from the mandolin to trombone, from some of the finest musicians the Queen City has to offer. Doug has a great blend of his Awk Shucks/matter of fact lyrics that would go 12 rounds with anything John Prime ever wrote.

A standout song is “Peckinpah and Ford” — a little ditty about some western justice. It’s poetic and Guy Clark is kicking his own ass for not writing it. Also, Tom Kuhn’s mandolin picking on the track really is the peanut butter to Doug’s jam of lyrics. I absolutely love the modern topics he brings on “She’s still in Jail,” again proclaiming. “I wished she never drank that case of Bud Light and left on squealing tires.” 

Another thing I enjoy is the buildup to the song by the breaks in-between, that display the pure genius (and some great chuckles) like I have heard on a few of my favorite live albums. It is pure modern storytelling from Douglass Thompson on this crystal-clear sounding live album. I can’t express how impressed I am with the sound as well as the lyric content of this record. If you’re a fan of John Prine, Tom Waits, Van Morrison, Kristofferson, Todd Snider, then Douglass Thompson’s It Was a Good Plan (Live at the evening Muse) should be in your collection, listened to at a reasonable volume for your listening pleasure.

I urge you to pick a copy of this gem, for all those who consider themselves lovers of genuine singer/songwriter types. Safe to say Mr. Thompson has mastered the skill of honest songwriting  Five Jalapenos on a stick If I had to grade this album. Enjoy!

http://dougthompsongs.wix.com/douglass-thompson