Eric Nelson Thompson – Manic + Organic | 25th Anniversary Edition (Remixed, Remastered) (2025)

Eric Thompson is, first and foremost, a writer. Over the course of the last twenty five years he estimates he’s written in the neighborhood of 200-300 songs, including “It’s a Guy Thing”, “Slave to Love” and “Gotta Lotta Lovin’” – many of which have become staples on terrestrial and internet radio shows around the world. He first picked up the guitar when he was 10 years old and discovered the outlet for the stories and dreams swirling around in his schoolboy head. Throughout high school, Eric continued writing and recording, playing with various bands at church festivals, garage jams, talent shows and even the opening of the Richie Valens biopic “La Bamba” at the local theater. Stacks of journals and wire-bound notebooks accumulated as he pursued various projects in the run-up to his time at San Jose State University where he earned an English degree and nurtured dreams of writing, teaching and academia. Accepted to graduate school at Northeastern University, Eric found the academic life stifling and not suited to his temperament. After college he was adrift: an early failed relationship, an all-too-short teaching stint, a humbling return to his childhood home, and ever more songs. Eric continued performing in small cafes, coffee shops, bars while working to pay the bills. However, juggling music and “real life” proved challenging and he went long stretches where he wasn’t as productive or prolific.

In 2001, Eric released his seminal project “Manic + Organic” - a collection of original songs that signaled his arrival as a songwriter and artist. Called “a promising debut that harkens back to Gram Parsons and the Cosmic California Country sounds of the Flying Burrito Brothers”, “Manic + Organic” enjoyed critical and popular success with several tracks ending up on radio as staples of country and Americana playlists. His best known track, “It’s A Guy Thing”, is a satirical exploration of masculinity, relationships and meaning – and remains a crowd favorite in live settings. “The Ballad of Pierre and Mademoiselle Revisited” reimagines Chuck Berry’s “Teenage Wedding” as a south-of-the border murder-suicide love triangle, replete with banditos and federales and well, you can guess the rest. Other tracks like “Buttonwillow” and “Fragile” recall the dusty Bakersfield sound and early 70’s country-infused California rock sound of Gram Parsons. The album also features David Nelson (New Riders of the Purple Sage, Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band) on guitar, who was accompanied in the studio by Pete Grant (Grateful Dead, Hoyt Axton, The Blasters) on pedal steel and dobro, where the two brought their legendary Bay Area musical roots to bear on a project that reflected the spirit of the 60s, bluegrass and country rock all at once. The project, which became “Manic + Organic” has been remixed, remastered and reimagined as part of a planned 25th anniversary re-release later this year.

“The thing about Manic and Organic that still inspires me is what a magical, spontaneous outburst of energy it was. When we started, I didn’t know Scott (producer J. Scott Smith), I wasn’t really known in the scene at that time; it had been a few years since I’d done any live playing. I didn’t know Pete or David prior to the recording - Pete was teaching guitar up in Roseville, CA and I knew a guy - Jim Ferguson - who was a student of his. I shared some early mixes with Jim and he asked if he could share them with his guitar teacher. I said ‘sure’ - not knowing who his teacher was & was surprised when he called me and said ‘I’m Pete Grant’ and offered to play on some of the tracks. A few weeks later we were all in the studio, and Pete and David rolled in there with a minivan packed to the gills with guitars, amplifiers, dobros, and the pedal steel that Pete had taught Jerry Garcia on. David had a trusty Telecaster with a b-bender and he was magnificent as well. Just the whole thing and the way it came together. That evening we were listening back to the session and I said something like “Wow. This is manic AF” and Scott said “Yeah, but it’s so organic.” And that was it. “Manic + Organic” was born.”

The success of “Manic + Organic” led Eric to explore touring for the first time and his work supporting the project took him all over California and the West Coast, ultimately culminating in a series of shows at the famous Henflings Tavern in Ben Lomond, CA. A touring stint with the West Coast Country Roadshow followed and after that it was back to the studio.

Eric’s second record “Locally World Famous” is a mash-up of styles and influences but stays true to its California Country roots with tracks like “Gone, Gone, Gone”, “Gotta Lotta Lovin’” and “You’re the One I Love” - along with Eric’s most streamed track to date: “Slave to Love”. The songs traverse a wide range of themes and styles but hone closely to the confessional, true to life country and roots-inspired styles that were fast becoming a mainstay of Eric’s writing. Collaborators like Dave Ristrim (who contributed searing pedal steel and later went on to write and tour with country artist Luke Bryan) and John Wedemeyer (Charlie Musselwhite Band) made guest turns and brought legit country and blues credibility to the production. Some of the reviews of “LWF” commented favorably on the versatility of voicings and song styles - suggesting that Eric’s real talent lay in songwriting - something he took to heart as he continued his creative journey & doubled down on his writing.

Two years later Eric was in the studio again - a makeshift studio as the original had been razed to make way for a new residential complex - an auspicious foreshadowing. With an ambitious collection of songs he titled “Grand Hotel”, tracks like “All The Things You Love” and “Hiding In Plain Sight” hinted at the project’s promise. However, the effort was plagued with problems and midway through recording Eric moved to Seattle to pursue much-needed work and the project was shelved for a time. The demands of work and family were all-consuming and left little time to pursue much in the way of creative efforts. “I was working, raising a family, paying the bills and trying to survive the most depressing, rainy weather I’d ever lived in. It was a tough time. I certainly wasn’t my best.” Most of the guitars went into storage. Equipment was sold off. Music and the dream of finishing the record seemed to get further and further away. After a few years of halting progress, re-recording and other efforts to complete it, Eric finally decided to release it as-is and call it “Unfinished Business” - an homage to the state of the production as well as his music career. The result was a hodgepodge of half-completed demos and partially-produced tracks that never quite got over the line.

“Everything in my head told me I probably shouldn’t have released it but I figured I’d never do anything with it otherwise and if I didn’t (release it) it would probably die on a dusty hard drive. I’m glad I did it - it’s a cool collection of songs, some of which I still play live, and it captures a moment in time - bedrooms, makeshift studios and zero budget and you get what you get - and that’s what it was.”

After that, things went steadily downhill for a while: another breakup, a succession of jobs that failed to satisfy, a battle to stay upright while the world fell apart during the pandemic in 2020. A long, tortuous battle that left him feeling even more isolated and alone. Eventually Eric was living in a small cabin where he and his longtime friend and fellow musician John Pinetree would gather weekly and strum songs, drink copious amounts of wine - and share their stories through music. “It was John that really got me back into playing. We played every week for the better part of that year, trading songs, writing new ones. We wrote ‘Highway 51’ to mark Juneteenth and did a livestream of it and that was kind of the tipping point. I was writing again and music was starting to re-emerge as a healing and energizing force in my life. I think it’s not an exaggeration to say it saved me a little. As things started opening up towards the end of the year, John asked me to join his band and be his guitar player. It was an easy ‘yes’ and that really jump-started everything.”

Eric supported John on over 100 shows over the course of the next two years - weekly residencies at Capitol Cider in Seattle and bi-weekly acoustic blues nights across the bridge in West Seattle - as well as a number of showcase shows in venues around the greater Puget Sound, all the while getting support and encouragement from John and the Pinetree Music Collective. “I give John all the credit in the world for getting me back into playing and giving me that opportunity. I’d never really stopped writing - I had lots of lyrics and snippets and riffs that had piled up over the years - but putting it all back together and getting out there, playing, reconnecting with the world through music, meeting people, sharing my songs again. It’s something that’s changed me for the better and given me that part of my life back. I’ll never be able to repay him. I have a community of friends, musicians, people I would never have known had I not taken that step and I’m so grateful for that.”

Since 2020, Eric has continued to play regularly and in 2023 re-entered the studio for the first time in more than ten years. “Never Too Late” is an all-original set of songs featuring many of the musicians that Eric counts among his friends today. “It was time - it was something that needed to happen. We’d been playing a few of the songs live for a while. I was lucky to find OneShot (studio), I was lucky to have friends who wanted to help me out. It was a lot like “Manic + Organic” in that it just came together and the people who rallied around me to make it happen are just like the best humans - I’m still trying to figure out how that all came together the way it did.”

Featuring Seattle mainstays like Jose Gonzales (piano), Bill Ray (drums) and John Pinetree (harmonica) and produced by Dylan Fant, “NTL” feels like classic Eric Thompson: funny, biting, tender, reflective and with tracks that jump out at you the first time you hear them. Songs like “Headed For Trouble” offer a first person witness to a relationship coming off the tracks and “Short Sweet Ride” is a humorous reflection on mortality, personas and the things that connect us as people. Other songs like “Deep Blue Endless Ocean” and “Precious Time” are reflective of the struggle with acceptance - of our own limitations, including the time we have left – and each other. “It’s a first step back into the ring, getting things moving again and it’s awakened me. There’s an urgency I feel today that I didn’t feel before.”

2023 also marked the beginning of his work with Leatherwood & Co. - a group of Seattle musicians united by their love of blues, roots and folk music who came together after meeting at an open mic. “The Leatherwood gang - those guys are all friends and we started playing together because we like hanging out and we all love music. It’s a great community of like-minded people whose only mission is to have fun and do justice to the music we all love so much.” Featuring uniquely Americana instrumentation - dobro, banjo, mandolin, guitar, harmonica - Leatherwood brings an authentic roots and blues set of influences to their original material as well as a few cover tunes that never fail to surprise. “You ever hear a banjo version of ‘Crazy Train’? Or “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’? It’s a trip and it’s fun to experiment with arrangements and instrumentation on songs that take people a minute or two to recognize.”

After being diagnosed with a heart ailment that same year, Eric spent a year and a half retooling his life. Through it all, his morning writing practice, his growing musical community and his own innate sense of how this all goes down has continued to see him through. “I think when I got the diagnosis it forced me to sit down and re-evaluate what I was doing. How I was spending my time. Who I was spending it with. What choices I was making. What’s in/what’s out. I have this miraculous golden thread that’s gone through my life called music and that’s the thing that links all these experiences, all these years - and that’s what I’m going to keep doing for as long as I can. It’s something that’s never forsaken me, and I will never take it for granted again. It was a wake-up call.”

Reflecting on all of this led Eric to realize that it had been nearly 25 years since he recorded “Manic + Organic” - and that this might be the perfect opportunity to bring it all together and close the circle.

“M&O” was such a magical time for me - and the beginning of this long, 25 year chapter that is kind of culminating in this equally magical mini-renaissance and I want to do something to commemorate it, mark it, and do justice to it. Bring everything full circle.”

“Johnny Sangster (Mark Lanegan, Mudhoney, The Posies) oversaw the transfers from the original 24-track tape to digital; Dylan Fant, who produced “Never Too Late” did the remix. It was like unearthing a time capsule: listening to those tracks took me back to the studio as if I was hearing them for the first time. Remixing and cleaning them up really brought back the sparkle. Reimagining the songs, letting them open up again, the whole thing just moves and sparkles in a way it never has and I’m so pleased with the way it turned out.” Remastered for streaming and vinyl release, “Manic + Organic 2025” will be available for pre-order May 1 and will available for streaming and download July 31, 2025 - which also happens to be Eric’s birthday!

After that, who knows what’s next. Pretty sure it will involve music. And a lot of friends.