Folk and rock musician Teddy Thompson heading to Sunderland's Fire Station

Teddy Thompson, the son of folk rock legends Richard and Linda Thompson, will be at The Fire Station, Sunderland, on Sunday, January 21, promoting his new album My Love of Country.

The album includes iconic country hits from the likes of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton and George Jones.

Teddy will be supported by Lauren Housley, an award-winning singer songwriter from Yorkshire who has a growing reputation after three independent albums and two BBC Radio playlist hit singles.

Teddy’s show will also include pre-show and interval sets from local Country Classics DJ Rob Heron (of Rob Heron and the Teapad Orchestra).

My Love of Country is Teddy’s eighth album and follows 2020’s Heartbreaker Please, which listed in the Daily Mail’s Top Ten Records of the Year.

Throughout his career Teddy has enjoyed successful collaborations with country and Americana luminaries such as Rufus Wainwright, Rosanne Cash and Emmylou Harris.

Back in 2007 he explored his musical roots through an earlier album of Nashville golden era favourites, called Up Front and Down Low. Seventeen years later he’s picked up the thread again.

He explained: “The pandemic hit and all bets were off, and the question came up, ‘What can we do musically just for fun?’ I said, ‘Let’s do some country songs.’

“In my favourite eras of music, it was all about the song. Most of the country songs that I know and love were recorded by dozens and dozens of people. And it was all in the service of the song. I grew up with that being the most important thing. For this record, that was a huge part of it. I just want people to hear these songs.

“Country music has been inescapable for me, a recurring theme. At the age of 10 or 11, that's the first thing I heard where my ears pricked up and I'm like, 'Oh, this is music? I like this.'

“Up Front and Down Low was made with an off the cuff approach, but My Love of Country goes much deeper.

“The goal was to do it in the way that country records I love – mostly from the '60s – were made.

"Everything was mapped out, with charts and string parts in place. The musicians came in, and we cut the songs the way they did back then. We just blazed through them.

“These are all songs that I've known and loved for years. That’s the real key, having them in your body for a long time, decades really. I didn't really have to think at all about how to sing them. I just honoured the originals.”

"Helping Teddy realize his vision for My Love Of Country was multi-instrumentalist producer David Mansfield, whose resume includes touring with Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, scoring Oscar-nominated films like The Apostle and years of high-profile session work with the likes of Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams and Dwight Yoakam.

Tickets for Teddy Thompson – My Love of Country are from £17 and can be booked through The Fire Station website, www.thefirestation.org.uk or https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/events/teddy-thompson-my-love-of-country/