A couple of years ago, Cam Thompson asked his parents for guitar lessons. Despite a brief hiatus in learning the instrument he loves, Thompson recently released his first song.
“I’ve always been into music,” Thompson said. “I’ve always been able to sing pretty well. I thought guitar would be fun to learn but after a few months, I got a little frustrated with it. It’s not too easy to really pick up.”
Despite the hang up with the guitar, “Kentucky Weather” is the first song the 2020 Owensboro High School graduate has written. He knew because of his love of songwriting that he had to buckle down and consume as much about the guitar as he could.
“I figured if I’m going to start writing songs, I need to learn how to play guitar,” he said. “I really set my mind to the guitar. Ended up learning it and ever since then, I’ve been writing songs and decided I wanted to show the rest of the world.”
Thompson went to the studio at Gray Sky Music to work on his song, and he finished it about a month ago.
While he’s found his voice now, it took a bit for Thompson to work up the courage to share his gift with everyone.
“I used to be really embarrassed to sing in front of anyone at all,” he said. “I did not like the choir setting or anything. Some teachers would hear me sing and ask me to join choir but that’s not my thing. Recently, I said I want to do this, so it’s really been about a year that I’ve been comfortable with singing in front of people.”
Now, there’s no stopping Thompson as he’s already looking for places to play when he attends the University of Kentucky this fall.
“Now that I’ve experienced it, I love doing it,” he said. “I love performing in front of people, getting to share songs with people. I’m doing what I love now.”
He said while it took him a bit to feel comfortable, he realized it was his dream and he needed to get it done.
“People are going to judge you either way so you’ve got to just kind of do what you love and not worry about what everyone thinks,” he said. “As long as you’re having fun, you’re having fun.”
Thompson also suited up for the Red Devils on the gridiron, and he said it was football and his family that helped him find the resilience to keep going when it got difficult.
“I’ve always been one of those guys that think nothing is handed to you, you always need to work for what you deserve,” he said. “Football definitely instilled that in me. My coaches and my father, of course, always instilled that in my head. You’ve got to work for what you want to do. Football, I wanted to be really good at it so I would work harder than anyone else in order to get my spot and do as well as I could. I definitely take music just as seriously now that it’s my priority.”
Next on the agenda for Thompson is to get back in the studio. He said he has about 12 songs written and he’s hopeful his first album of 10 songs will be out in late September or early October.
He said he’d love to be able to play for his community before he makes the move to Lexington.
