The 2023 July 4 holiday celebration in Northeast Tennessee was better than awesome.  We’ve already told you all about the great job the folks at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tenn.. did with this year’s event.  And, we know they could not have done it without sponsors like Food City, Pepsi, WJHL News Channel 11, and 96.9 WXBQ.  The fans also know that the evening was the best it could be when talent like George Birge and Matt Stell opened for our headliners Thompson Square.

There probably isn’t anything I can say about Thompson Square that their fans don’t already know.  Keifer and Shawn Thompson are my favorite duo. The husband-and-wife duo certainly paid their dues in Nashville before becoming an ‘overnight success’ with “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not”.  Over the years, they have given us Play List full of great songs.  It is hard to think of Thompson Square and keep your brain from running straight to “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not”., but these two are so much more than that one song.  That great song really introduced all of us to Shawna and Keifer.  I believe that was an introduction all country music fans are happy about.  I loved listening to all of their songs last night but was so pleased that they sang “Glass”.  That will always be one of my favorite TS songs.

Shawna and Keifer are parents to seven-year-old Rigney Cooper Thompson. Cooper came out on stage last night to lead the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.  After that, they asked him if he wanted to sing.  He was a bit hesitant at first … but with an encouraging applause from the audience, he sang, “Our God is an Awesome God”.  He did a great job – and Shawna had the audience join in when Cooper sang through it again.  I think I smiled through the whole thing.  I wonder if we should have called Cooper back for an encore,

If you read the articles I posted about George Birge and Matt Still, you are going to think this article is a quick ‘copy and paste’.  It is not.  I need to say the same thing about Shawna and Keifer that I said about those first two artists.  They are friendly.  They are sweet.  They appreciate fans. They also did an on-air interview with tWXBQ Radio.  They took time to talk to me, even when I’m sure I was bothering them.  And Keifer took a selfie of the three of us for my scrapbook. After their performance they stayed and watched the fireworks.  We need a lot more people like Shawna and Keifer Thompson in our world right now.  They really added that little extra special to an already wonderful evening.

I had seen Thompson Square several times before.  And after last night’s show, I’m sure I’ll be seeing them again.  Be sure to visit their website to keep up with the show schedule for Thompson Square.  We know you will want to check out their other social media links as well.  You can follow them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube – and please click on the other social media links they list on their home page.

We’ll close out with more pictures from the 36th Annual Pepsi Independence Day Firework Celebration.  Again, thanks to everyone who donated photos they took for use in our articles.

              
In addition to Country’s Chatter photos, the photos used in this article were taken by 96.9 WXBQ, Brittany Johnson and Joy Bledsoe.

 

 

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The 2023 July 4 holiday celebration in Northeast Tennessee was better than awesome.  We've already told you all about the great job the folks at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tenn.. did with this year's event.  And, we know they could not have done it without...