The Musicians

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The Musicians

Jamie Thompson

Judy Thompson

Dan Kelly

Scott Gurney

Ken Volz

Mark Appiotti

Dennis Law

Verna Law

Jay Kratz

Jack Otto

Roger Schultz

Ron Karp

David Young

Dave Detwiler

Born in 1958, Jamie Thompson grew up in the 1960's listening to The Beatles, Eric Clapton, CSNY, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Grateful Dead, etc.

Looking for his "voice," Jamie took a couple of years of piano and a couple of years of drums but it was the songwriting of Lennon & McCartney and the spiritual/improvisational guitar playing of Eric Clapton that first fired his imagination with the dream of making music that could touch the human heart.

During the 1970's, Jamie entered adolescence and, like most everyone, began the complex journey from childhood to adulthood. When words couldn't describe life's experiences Jamie found meaning in the turbulent, emotional expressions of rock lead guitar playing. He studied the guitar work of Jerry Garcia, Duane Allman, Richard Betts, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Peter Frampton and Pete Townsend. After a year of "woodshedding" with a borrowed guitar he finally joined a local rock band and began performing at school dances and private parties.

As Jamie's ability improved, he became obsessed with guitar playing and got into the habit of practicing his new found art every chance he had. Not wishing to isolate himself he borrowed an old DanElectro from a friend and took it everywhere he went so that he could practice while hanging out with his friends.

At the age of 15, Jamie started playing in local bars and for the next 5 years he played in several bar/cover bands.

Around the age of 16, Jamie realized that the musicians he respected the most didn't often play cover tunes but wrote their own music and developed their own unique style of singing, playing, and recording. He made friends with a guy in his neighborhood who played fingerstyle acoustic guitar and wrote his own songs. They started playing together regularly, blending their guitar sounds, singing harmonies, and challenging each other to write songs.

After graduating high school in 1976, Jamie noticed that a lot of the hysteria and hype that surrounded his non-original music endeavors faded away as his local cohort dispersed. It was in this period that he began writing songs in earnest.

In 1979, Jamie was introduced to the guitar playing of Phil Keaggy and the songwriting of Canadian acoustic fingerstylist Bruce Cockburn. These powerful artists inspired Jamie to keep writing and to break new ground in his lead guitar playing style. He bought a nice acoustic guitar and started developing right hand finger picking styles. He's been at it ever since.

Jamie is a fiercely independent musician. He has a mature musical vision and never could imagine himself surrendering his music to someone who might take it and make it into something that he didn't hear in his heart and mind. Hence, he never really tried to find a producer, a manager, or a record label.

In the mid 1980's, he acquired an eight track multitrack tape deck and spent the next 5 years recording his music in a home studio. By the time his work was mastered onto cassette, though, he was dissatisfied with the degradation of the sound quality and he dreamed of one day being able to master his work onto CD.

After all these years, the time of the independent musician has arrived as the latest technologies have placed digital recording and professional quality equipment within reach of regular people. The advent of the Internet with sites like CD Baby has created an environment where artists like Jamie no longer need the backing of a major corporation in order to bring their work to the public. This is the time that Jamie has been dreaming of and waiting for ever since he saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show when he was five years old... It's Been So Long!!!

Recent career highlights :

Jamie performed original music at 6 Flags Great Adventure Theme Park for the Rejoice Celebration weekend September 1, 2002 .

Jamie scored a video called “Let’s Pray Let’s Roll” that honored the memory of 9/11 hero Todd Beamer. Jamie also wrote and recorded an original music score for the 9/11 video “Lost in New York ” that was distributed nationally.

Jamie was the featured artist of the week on WZZD 990 AM and Word FM 89.9 in Philadelphia .

Music from the song "It's Been So Long" was selected as the theme song and bumper tracks for a Philadelphia based radio talk show called "House Mechanic" on WFIL 560 AM. The show is aired every Saturday morning at 8:00 AM .

Jamie plays guitar and writes original music on demand for regular services at Branch Creek Community Church in Harleysville , PA.

Jamie: "One of my biggest thrills happened when I was in 10th grade in high school back in the spring of 1974. My band played at my high school's Arts Festival and we packed a 700 seat auditorium with 2000 screaming hysterical fans. It was a fantasy come true... a rare event in this life.

Please enjoy Jamie's music on his first CD release, It's Been So Long

Jack started picking out tunes on the piano at age 7. He attended dances in Philadelphia in the mid 1940's where he learned many songs that he now plays at his gigs. Jack never took formal piano lessons. He plays by ear and doesn't read music. In the early 1970's Jack studied congas and bongos under Paul Patterson, specializing in Afro-Latin rhythms. Jack has been collecting records related to his rhythm studies since 1950. Jack finds Afro-Latin music so intriguing, he doesn't make time to study any other music. He teaches and performs on BranchCreek Community Church's worship team where he and Jamie met and became amigos. Jack came to Jamie's home studio one afternoon and used his congas to record a really cool rhythm texture for the second verse of "With the One I Love." Jack let Jamie borrow a whole selection of rhythm instruments for the "It's Been So Long" CD project. Thanks Jack!!

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