News: Eric's new Kleptograss CD is out and is getting lots of airplay here in the Bay Area! Eric recorded with Jody Stecher, Scott Nygaard, Paul Shelasky and Paul Knight, and rounded out the CD with tracks he recorded some years back with Jody and Suzy (which were never released.) You can get it from Eric at any of his gigs, and you can hear some snippets, and also order it from CDBaby: Kleptograss at CDBaby

February 2012: Hear KLEPTOGRASS Live!

Sat. Feb. 4 - Kleptograss at Mission City Coffee Roasting Company, Santa Clara.. Eric is convening his all-star band to explore all kinds of music from blues to bluegrass to Puerto Rican to Greek to Irish, and even more! Eric will be joined by Jody Stecher, Tom Rozum, Paul Shelasky and Paul Knight. Mission City Coffee Roasting Company, Santa Clara is located at 2221 The Alameda (at the corner of Chapman Ct.), Santa Clara. Directions: From Freeway 880 South: Take the Alameda exit, turn right on The Alameda. Mission City is on your left in about a quarter of a mile. From Freeway 880 North: Take the Alameda exit, turn left on the Alameda. Mission City is on your left in about a quarter of a mile. We alwasy love playing for the Fiddling Cricket folks! More info about their excellent concerts can be found here: Fiddling Cricket website

Wed. Feb. 15 - Kleptograss at Freight & Salvage! Kleptograss (Eric, Jody Stecher, Tom Rozum, Paul Shelasky and Paul Knight) returns to the Freight stage! Freight website

FLATPICKING WORKSHOP IN SAN ANSELMO

Sat. Feb. 18, afternoon - Flatpicking Workshop with Eric, Marin Community Music School, San AnselmoWe'll post more info about this when it becomes available.

About Eric:

Eric Thompson took up the guitar as a teenager in Palo Alto, California in the early 1960's, at a time when very few folk guitarists were playing more than basic rhythm guitar. Among his earliest bands were the Black Mountain Boys (with Jerry Garcia and David Nelson) and Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. He quickly became nationally known as an exceptional lead flatpicker, winning the World Championship Cup at Union Grove, North Carolina with the New York Ramblers (which also included David Grisman and Winnie Winston) and flying to Nashville, Tennessee to record "Beatle Country" with the Charles River Valley Boys (reissued on Rounder).

During the 1970's, Eric continued to play old-time music and can be heard with the Spare Change Boys on the recently released Folkways CD, "Classic Oldtime Music". He also took up the tenor banjo, organized the Graineog Celidh Band around two master musicians from County Clare, Joe Cooley and Kevin Keegan, and spent six months in the west of Ireland, visiting and learning from older traditional musicians there.

Eric's first solo LP, "Bluegrass Guitar", featured an all-star band including David Grisman and Tony Rice, and was released in 1979 on Kicking Mule; it was recently reissued, with additional duet tracks with David Grisman, as "Thompson's Real". A duet album with guitarist Alan Senauke, "Two Guitars", featured a more eclectic mix ranging from American bluegrass to Irish reels to Greek rembetika; it has also recently been reissued in tandem with the Blue Flame Stringband album.

In the 1980's Eric toured extensively nationwide and abroad with the Blue Flame Stringband (with Kate Brislin, Alan Senauke, and Suzy Thompson) and the Backwoods Band, recording with both bands. Between tours, he traveled to southwest Louisiana, pursuing his newest musical interest, Cajun music. In 1983 he formed the California Cajun Orchestra and can be heard on their two award-winning Arhoolie CDs. More recently he has recorded with the Todalo Shakers and of course with the Bluegrass Intentions on their debut CD, "Old As Dirt". Eric also appears as a sideman on recordings by Mike Seeger, Alice Gerrard, the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, Mac Benford, Jody Stecher, Jane Voss, and Frankie Armstrong, among others.

Eric is a knowledgeable and patient teacher, who has been a staff member at Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, Bluff Country Gathering, Augusta Heritage Old-Time and Cajun-Creole Weeks, Port Townsend Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camp, and Lark In the Morning. His latest writing project is "Playing Bluegrass Guitar", published by Backbeat Publications. Eric's guitar instructional materials are distributed by Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop. He is featured in the Mel Bay publication Flatpicking 2000 and has also written instructional columns for Flatpicking Guitar and Acoustic Guitar magazines.

Lessons

Listen to cuts from Eric's CD "Thompson's Real":

Paddy on the Turnpike Eric Thompson, lead guitar; Tony Rice, rhythm guitar; Paul Shelasky, fiddle; Sandy Rothman, banjo; Todd Phiillip, bass