James Thompson Australian musician blues and roots artist, singer songwriter Tompo. The Ellis 8 string Baritone Tricone Resonator was custom built by Ellis Guitars for Australian Blues player Tompo (James Michael Thompson). The instrument has a bell brass body, mahogany neck and Quaterman cones. This is similar to most top of the line National and Dobro <br>steel guitars. For amplification a nickel National Lace humbucking resophonic pickup is mounted onto the body. This pickup is capable of acoustic resonator sounds and also electric blues sounds when driving a valve amp such as a Fender twin with a Tube screamer or overdrive effect. The 8 strings are all on the fretboard and are strung over a 27.5 inch scale length making the 8 string guitar <br>a baritone guitar as well. Tompo uses GHS Zakk Wylde Lo strings which result in the lowest three <br>strings sounding very similar to a bass guitar which can then be soloed over with slide guitar riffs <br>on the higher strings. Grover tuners keep the guitar in tune and a 12 string trapezoid archtop guitar tailpiece was installed to cater for the eight strings.

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BIOGRAPHY

TOMPO

(formerly James Michael Thompson)

Blending the sounds of Delta slide greats such as Blind Willie Johnson and Robert Johnson with his own eclectic past experience and training in classical guitar and heavy metal, Tompo is a 27 year old Australian blues musician with a big voice and a quietly endearing stage presence, using his guitars, blues harp, stomp-box and shakers to convey his heartfelt songs of ‘good news blues.’

Tompo’s sound has been honed and refined by the influences of Jeff Lang, John Lee Hooker, Lloyd Spiegel, Paul Simon and Skip James. Beginning to gig in earnest in late 2004, Tompo’s credits include debuting at the acclaimed Bridgetown Blues Festival in 2005; supports for ‘The Bondi Cigars and Lloyd Spiegel at the Perth Blues Club, hosting the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society’s (MBAS) blues night at the Cornish Arms and demonstrating the one-of-a-kind Ellis Guitars Seven String Resonator at the Frankston Guitar Festival in 2005. Tompo has also performed alongside the likes of Collard, Greens and Gravy; The Black Sorrows and Guy Davis at the Mordialloc Music by the Bay; Queensland songsmiths Loren & Marcus Bancroft; as well as performing on the same bill as Michael Franti and Jamie Cullum at the West Coast Blues and Roots Festival.

Tompo recorded his first E.P ‘Light Your Way’ in 2005, which has found its way into homes across Australia and has received airplay on local, national and international radio. The track ‘Broken Bone Blues’ was a finalist in the Western Australian Music Industry (WAM) Song of the Year contest for 2005.

He may be still a relative stranger to the Australian music scene but Tompo is fast winning fans and praise country-wide. He has been described by Sonia Meggs, the President of the MBAS as a ‘true bluesman’:

“At a very young age Tompo has captured the blues and made it his own. You will be enthralled by his presentation and style of his music, his vocals are deep and soulful reminding me of the past struggles of men working on a chain-gang, or in the cotton fields in the deep south in the days of slavery. Tompo is a true bluesman!”

Sonia Meggs - President Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society

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“At a very young age Tompo has captured the blues and made it his own, you will be enthralled by his presentation and style of his music, his vocals are deep and soulful reminding me of the past struggles of men working on a chain-gang, or in the cotton fields in the deep south in the days of slavery. Tompo is a true bluesman!”
Sonia Meggs - President Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society