Welcome back to Takeover Tuesday, where each week Billboard taps chart-topping artists and taste-makers to compile their very own playlist exclusive to Billboard’s Spotify account. We give the artists free reign to base the list on whatever subject they choose. The only rule? Make it as creative and unique to them as possible.
Keifer and Shawna Thompson, the real-life couple behind Thompson Square, dropped their third studio album — and first in five years — Masterpiece on June 1. The album was preceded by the release of its title track, a genre-defying ballad about the birth of their first child, Cooper, that envelops its listeners in emotion. “Masterpiece” has all the musical elements of a country classic, and for Takeover Tuesday, Thompson Square tapped into the timeless songs that inspire them.
“There are certain things that stand the test of time and music is no different. Here are a few of songs that have both influenced and inspired us and continue to do so,” the pair told Billboard.
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Thompson Square’s Takeover Tuesday playlist is a decade-spanning collection of country and rock tracks that captured audiences with poignant storytelling, soulful instrumentation, and an ability to get stuck in your head. The central themes of love, loss, and mortality abound among many others.
The playlist opens with country icon Johnny Cash’s cover of “In My Life” by The Beatles — with its signature pared-down melody and Cash’s mellow vocal delivery, this 2002 version is just as timeless as the original. The track is among other country standouts such as “Heaven Was a Drink of Wine” by Merle Haggard and Brooks & Dunn’s “Believe.”
Throughout the 20-song playlist, Thompson Square gathered a wide array of rock subgenres. Blues rock has a home on the playlist with music by Alabama Shakes (“Hold On”) and The Black Keys (“Gold on the Ceiling”), where as folk is showcased through The Band’s gospel-leaning classic “The Weight.” Punk shines with My Chemical Romance‘s heart-wrenching single “Welcome to the Black Parade,” and the couple made space for good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll by including two of the genre’s most masterful storytellers, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel.
Thompson Square also include the musical stylings of a few female powerhouses, such as Celine Dion (“All By Myself” and “The Prayer” with Andrea Bocelli) and Etta James (“I’d Rather Go Blind”). To sum it all up, it’s only appropriate that a playlist about timelessness features Cyndi Lauper’s 1984 hit “Time After Time.”
Listen to Thompson Square’s Timeless Influences Playlist for Takeover Tuesday below.