Thompson Square

Like Steel Magnolia, whose 2011 debut album preceded this duo's by a mere month, Thompson Square are a real-life couple doing pop-country songs frequently concerning, well, being a real-life couple. One difference is that Thompson Square's 2011 album wasn't technically their debut; they'd actually released an earlier self-titled album, on tiny La Vergne, Tenn., label Sixgun, way back in 2007. But that one didn't take off, and when Keifer and Shawna Thompson finally signed to Stoney Creek in January 2010, they were still tending bar. Their first national single "Let's Fight" teasingly imagined fisticuffs as foreplay, and it peaked at No. 58 on Billboard's Country Songs chart. But early in 2011, the follow-up, "Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not," got into the country Top 20 and crossed toward the pop Top 40. A full album followed, with plenty of pop-rock power chords (Keifer's influence, reportedly) beefing up an impressively catchy and cleverly written post-Lady Antebellum batch of boppers and ballads.