Steve Thompson's Place

Back in 1998 I decided I wanted to learn how to play the harmonica. I was motivated by the Blues Brothers movies (Don't laugh, that's how John Popper from Blues Traveler got interested in harmonica, and now he's one of the best harp players around!). Anyway, I bought a Hohner Golden Melody in the key of C and played around for a while but never really learned anything. Finally, in January of 1999 I bought Jerry Portnoy's Blues Harmonica Master Class on CD and began really studying. That's when I learned how to play some tunes and bend notes. Now I own a diatonic harp in every key (several in fact) as well as a chromatic, and have played harmonica with our church choir and Praise Band and have really enjoyed it. I have mostly Hohner harps (Special 20's, Marine Bands, and Golden Melody's) but also have some Lee Oskar's.

Some of My Recordings

Here's some of the music I've recorded with friends, family, or by myself. Download and enjoy!

The Lord Will Make A Way (763KB MP3) | Cypress Grove (671KB MP3) | The Harvest is Ready (799KB MP3)
These are some MP3's from a concert I did with my good friend Tom, the pastor of our church. Tom used to have a rock-and-roll band before he was a pastor. What a blast it was for me to be a part of this concert ("Tom Beaman and Friends"). I used Hohner Special 20's here.

Oh Holy Night (401KB MP3)
This is a cut from my family's 2002 Christmas CD. I also played this in our Christmas Eve service at church that year.

How Beautiful (474KB MP3)
My wife and I are in the choir at our church (she plays piano, I sing) and we've done this Twila Paris song several times. Here we are, my wife on piano and me on the harp.

Shine Jesus Shine (469KB MP3)
I found a MIDI track that turned out to be great accompaniment for the harp.

Amazing Grace (325KB MP3)
This is my first recording from back in 1999. My friend Tom recorded the guitar part and then I recorded the harp part on top of it.