These two brothers set out in the '50s to establish bluegrass around the state of Louisiana, a task one could easily compare to attempting to plant a lawn in a patch where there's already a full vegetable garden blooming. Between New Orleans rock and R&B, Cajun and zydeco music, and so-called Dixieland jazz, there was hardly enough room for a mandolin player to swing his neck around, let alone a full bluegrass band. Luke and Cecil Thompson were born in a sawmill town between Baton Rouge and north of New Orleans, Luke in 1928 and Cecil in 1932. It was a musical family of Scottish, English, and Irish descent who had wandered down to bayou country from the Carolinas. Grandfather played old-time fiddle, and family members would sometimes sit around keeping time with his tunes by tapping on the side of his instrument with straws. Both Luke and Cecil started out on guitars but switched to other instruments. Luke picked up fiddle and then a tenor banjo, which he then traded to another boy for a mandolin. The brothers' debut combo had a country direction, Luke called on to sing in a Hank Williams mode. Cecil and Bill Harris shared the rhythm guitar duties, and then Cecil quickly switched to five-string banjo. Country music was all they were really interested in until one day when a friend came over raving about a record by Bill Monroe entitled "Molly and Tenbrooks." Nobody was even sure what kind of music this was, but they definitely recognized the sound of the banjo. They liked what they heard, and with Cecil on banjo and Luke on mandolin, bluegrass music was the highway to head down. But there was just one small bump in the road: Nobody in Louisiana was playing bluegrass. There was a banjo player named Jim Smoak who had certainly given it his all, but by the early '50s, he had hightailed up north and gotten a gig with Monroe himself. Cecil joined the Coast Guard rather than take on such a project, but Luke gave it a go, putting together a five-piece combo with the addition of Dewey Edwards on fiddle; V.J. Meyers on guitar; J.C. Meyers doubling on guitar and four-string banjo; and Luke's wife, Hazel Thompson, on upright bass. The group began playing a variety of gigs, including shows at schools and neighborhood dances, but it was not an easy life. One anecdote of a typically disappointing gig includes the band showing up to see a large crowd gathering, only to find out the show had been canceled and the people were there for a basketball game. The ego trounce stoppeth not there, because in the ensuing argument about why the group had never received word of the cancellation, it was revealed that the booker had thought he was hiring a different band, and had relayed the news to them, not to the Thompson outfit, and it was this other band that would be rescheduled. No recordings exist of this hapless outfit, which went under the name of the Green Valley Boys. Luke used this name for various bands up until 1968, when he found out there was already another bluegrass group with the same name under the leadership of the appetizing Carl Sauceman. Luke changed his group's name to the Green Valley Cut-Ups. Being a Louisiana bluegrass man was just not to be, however. Luke headed north for a railroad job in Cincinnati, locating bluegrass players such as banjoist Jesse Kidd, vocalist Dave Woolum, and, most importantly, the young banjo phenomenon Sonny Osborne. Luke made his first studio recording in the context of these collaborations, backing Woolum with Kidd on a version of "Maple on the Hill" for the modest Excellent label. Osborne's banjo picking was featured prominently on the flip side. The next stop on the musical tour was Kentucky, where there was rumored to be something of a musical goldrush going on. Luke wasn't the only fellow to quit his day job under the spell of so-called easy money picking bluegrass, and predictably was also not the only guy practically starving to death several weeks after showing up in the so-called bluegrass state. Luke and his pal Kidd decided to see if there had been any improvements back in Louisiana. They got as far as Knoxville where they picked up a few gigs, leading to an invitation from former Flatt & Scruggs sideman Kentucky Slim to work on a television show with him. When they were rear-ended by a Tennessee state trooper on the way to the station one night, they took it as an omen and continued their journey south. Shortly after getting back home, he was reunited with brother Cecil and the Meyers brothers, making up a kind of loose group of players who worked together in mix and match situations. In 1959, Cecil, the Meyers brothers, and Dewey Edwards nabbed a spot on the famous Louisiana Hayride show broadcast over Shreveport's KWKH. This was a deep south, Opry-style show that had recently been getting attention because of appearances by the young, hip-shaking Elvis Presley. It was good exposure and led to some gigs here and there, but because the band was not making records, it was not featured with any great regularity on the program. The brothers began trying to rectify this situation. In 1960, the Thompsons were joined by Harold Bell and Clay Hudson to record a single on the Hammond label, entitled "I'm Lost Between the Falling Snow." It was a good record, but an independent one and not well-promoted. The band continued doing gigs, such as the Pearl River Valley Jamboree, and then picked up a spot on the South Louisiana Hayride show out of Ponchatoula. The band continued to play on this show for the next three years, but without Cecil, who pulled the old "I'm getting married and quitting the music business" routine, a decision he would stick with for the next 12 years. Luke continued gigging with Johnny Conn on guitar, James McKond on bass, Norman Barnum replacing Cecil on banjo, and Kay Silvery on fiddle. Luke and the band were dumped, or jumped, off the Hayride when it began converting to a honky tonk format. In 1968, Luke continued what was turning into a lifetime dedication to establishing bluegrass in his home state by helping originate the Old South Jamboree, a weekly country & western show in Walker, LA. Luke Thompson & the Green Valley Cut-Ups, featuring Allen Shelton on banjo, became the show's house bluegrass band for two years. In 1968, Luke established the first bluegrass festival in the state. The first festival featured Bill Monroe as the headliner, definitely an appropriate move since the grand old man had not only sparked Luke's interest in bluegrass as a lad, but had also given him much advice about running a bluegrass festival down the line when they met on a professional basis. Throughout the '60s, Luke continued on without Cecil, recording an album entitled Bluegrass Folk Music on the Hammond label, with Texan Jim Oertling as featured vocalist. And in one incredible night that he would never forget, Luke actually replaced an ailing Bill Monroe as front man with a lineup of the Bluegrass Boys, including Del McCoury on guitar, Bill Keith on banjo, and Enoch Sullivan on fiddle. A call came from out of the blue in 1969 that proved to be a major career booster for Luke. It was from one of the producers of the movie The Last of the Mobile Hot Shots, a film based on the Tennessee Williams play. Part of the film was to be shot in the Baton Rouge area where Luke was living and he and his band were hired for a bit part. One of his songs, an instrumental version of "I'll Live My Lonely Life Alone," wound up being used in the film. Inspired, Luke went back into the studio to record a remake of "I'm Lost Between the Falling Snow," this time with an all-star band lineup featuring Shelton, Travis Stewart on guitar, Tootie Williams on bass, Ed Shelton singing, and last but definitely not least, a young soldier stationed from the nearby Fort Polk Army base by the name of Byron Berline on fiddle. This player would go on to become one of the most famous of the progressive bluegrass musicians, even appearing on a Rolling Stones' album. Despite all of this star talent, the new version of the song made even less of an impact than the original one had. Through the late '70s, Luke continued to gig at concerts, clubs, and festivals with different versions of his Green Valley Cut-Ups. During this period, with bluegrass picking up a new young following, the musically long-lost brother Cecil returned picking on a part-time basis. Luke began to improve his skills as a guitar builder, a skill he had begun learning after rebuilding a guitar a man's wife had broken over his head -- the man, not Luke. He became known for his handmade mandolins, prized by players such as Herschel Sizemore and Buck White. He has also built a banjo for Cecil, no doubt a bribe to keep from dropping out of music again. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide