It’s barely 7 a.m. and things are already busy in the household of country music duoThompson Square. After a night that included scaring off the make-believe sharks hiding inson Cooper‘s crib, Keifer Thompson has just finished making a breakfast of eggs and peaches for his little guy and pouring a hot cup of coffee for wife Shawna.
Life is good and crazy and busy and unpredictable and fun.
On most days, life is really, really fun.
“It’s actually the most fun I have ever had,” Keifer tells PEOPLE about life since Cooper made him a daddy back in January of 2016. And it’s this pure fun that has indirectly led the country duo, best known for hit songs such as “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not” and “If I Didn’t Have You” to take a new route — as children’s book authors of the newly released children’s bookTime To Get Dressed.
“The book came about in an extremely organic way,” explains Keifer, just days beforethe sudden deathof his mother Carroll Thompson. “I was getting Cooper’s socks on one morning and made a little song about it. Shawna was in the shower and overheard me singing, and was convinced I was just singing some old song from my childhood. But as soon as she heard that I had just kind of come up with it, she told me to go straight downstairs to finish the song.”
John Shearer/Getty
Keifer and Shawna Thompson with son Cooper
That’s exactly what he did. And the experience turned into one of the most freeing experiences that Keifer says he has ever had when it comes to music.
“I wrote that song without having to worry about the charts and the whole business side of music and everything,” says Keifer, who worked alongside Shawna and book illustrator Ana Patanker onTime to Get Dressed. “We simply wrote this book completely from my heart.”
And what came from the heart was a book that essentially teaches kids how to get ready for their day, based on the melody of the song Keifer sang on that particular morning while getting Cooper dressed.
“Writing a song isn’t hard when you know what you want to write about,” he says. “The biggest songs we have ever had were written very fast.”
Indeed, the multi-platinum, two-time Grammy nominees have felt the strength of that creative lightning bolt many times since breaking onto the country music scene with 2010’s “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not.” From there, the husband-wife duo put together a string of hits that included “If I Didn’t Have You” and “Everything I Shouldn’t Be Thinking About.” And in 2018, the past ACM and CMA Award winners released their third studio album titledMasterpiece.
Because, you see, their son Cooper has not only inspired a new book, but also has inspired the duo’s new music.
“The wordMasterpiecepopped in my head and it instantly made us think of Cooper because we will never be able to create something as amazing as him,” he says. “I mean, we cried through the writing of that song. It’s definitely the favorite song I have ever written.”
Now with a career spanning over 10 years and a marriage spanning over 20 years, Keifer, 42, and Shawna, 40, find themselves at a unique time not only in their life, but also in their career.Masterpiecewas released independently after Shawna and Keifer parted ways with their longtime record label.
“You go and have these hits and get these awards, but all of a sudden, you find yourself begging out of your record deal,” Keifer says quietly. “After a string of hits, they turned the switch off. It got to a point where no one had any passion for us personally or professionally. So getting out of that situation was a time of complete freedom for us. All of a sudden, we could use the producers we wanted and sing the songs we wanted to sing and do all of the things we have dreamt of doing.”
Garrett Merchant
Thompson Square
It’s this that has Thompson Square feeling quite content at the moment.
“We are happy again,” says Keifer. “We haven’t been happy professionally in four years.”
As a dad, there is no question how happy Keifer is.
“I’ve always been a man’s man and I do a lot of man things, but the biggest man thing I have ever done is to be a dad,” says Keifer, who hints at the possibility of more books on the horizon for Thompson Square. “To love someone more than yourself is one of the most macho things you can do. I know a lot of guys who can’t get past that whole macho thing. It turns into a barrier for them. But honestly, I feel sorry for them. They are missing out on such a wonderful thing.”
Time to Get Dressedis available viawww.thompsonsquare.comand all digital retailers.
source: people.com
