Bobby Thompson (1937 to 2005) was one of the first banjo players to work out the melodic, or chromatic, style. He played with Jim and Jesse in the early 1960s, then became one of Nashville’s busiest session players from the 1960s through the 1980s. That is his banjo on the Hee Haw theme and on records by Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Neil Young.
Why Thompson matters
Thompson figured out note-for-note melodic banjo in the same years as Bill Keith, and he took it into country music. Session producers needed a banjo player who could read a chart and play any line. Thompson could. For a picker, he is proof that melodic banjo is a working tool, not just a show-off style.
Life and career
Thompson was born on July 5, 1937, in Converse, South Carolina. In the early 1960s he played banjo with Jim and Jesse. He then moved into Nashville studio work, where he played on hit records for decades. His list includes Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Hank Snow, Tammy Wynette, Elvis Presley, Loretta Lynn, Bill Monroe, Dolly Parton, Perry Como, Merle Haggard, the Monkees, Jimmy Buffett, and Neil Young. On Dolly Parton’s Jolene (1974) and Johnny Cash’s One Piece at a Time (1976), he is in the band.
In the late 1960s he joined fellow session players Weldon Myrick and Charlie McCoy in the band Area Code 615. He also played the theme music for Hee Haw, Smokey and the Bandit, Coal Miner’s Daughter, and Urban Cowboy. He retired from music in 1990 because of multiple sclerosis. He died on May 18, 2005, at 67.
Playing style
Thompson played three-finger banjo with a melodic approach, finding each note of a melody on a different string so the line flows like a fiddle. His session work called for clean, exact parts that fit inside a country arrangement. His bluegrass roots stayed in his playing.
Influences and legacy
Thompson worked out melodic banjo in the same era as Bill Keith. He played beside Jim and Jesse McReynolds, Charlie McCoy, Weldon Myrick, and Roy Clark on Hee Haw. Through his session work he put bluegrass banjo on country hits for three decades.
Essential recordings
Jolene, Dolly Parton (1974) One Piece at a Time, Johnny Cash (1976) Yesterday’s Wine, Willie Nelson (1971)
Watch and listen
Thompson and Roy Clark trade licks on Hee Haw.
What to learn from Thompson
Learn a simple melodic scale up the neck, the way Thompson did. Then use it on a country song. Play the vocal melody note for note behind the singer in the second verse. The technique to steal is restraint. Session players play only what the song needs. That makes them the players everyone wants to hire.
Sources
Bobby Thompson (musician), Wikipedia Thompson, Bobby, BluegrassBios.com
Related players
See the banjo players hub and the bluegrass banjo guide for more pickers. Thompson developed melodic banjo in the same years as Bill Keith, and Alan Munde carried it forward in the 1970s.