Hollywood, MD – Southern Maryland bluegrass music fans are mourning the loss of one of the true country singing voices in St. Mary’s County after Charlie Thompson of Hollywood passed away Saturday night in his Hollywood home at the age of 66.
“When I think of Charlie, I think of his voice,” said Mike Phipps, a Calvert County bluegrass performer. “He had a powerful voice. I liken him to the King of Southern Maryland Bluegrass.
“Charlie knew how to entertain,” he added. “He knew what song to plug in there to get the audience going. He was a great guy all around. He just had that sound.”
“Charlie was a lifelong friend of my dad,” said local DJ and performer Jay Armsworthy. “He was with my dad and mom Saturday night. He didn’t have a DJ job that night so my dad called him to see if he wanted to go to dinner with them up at St. Mary’s Landing. They picked him up and he went to dinner with them. They talked for hours. They were the last people to leave the restaurant.
“They asked him if he wanted to have a beer, because Charlie liked his 10-ounce Budweiser,” Armsworthy recalled, “but he said, ‘No, I think I’m going to go home and see what’s on TV.’ They took him home and watched him walk around the house. His wife got up to go to work at around 1:30 in the morning, she’s a nurse, and she found him still sitting in the recliner with the remote in his hand.”
Thompson is believed to have suffered a massive heart attack, according to Armsworthy.
“I knew him since I was a baby,” he added. “His family and my family grew up together. He was a great person. There is nothing bad you can say about him.”
Armsworthy said that a lot of musicians who have moved on to other venues got their start with Thompson, including Richard Underwood, who went on to perform with the Johnson Mountain Boys, and Jim Mills, who after starting out with “the hometown boy from Sandy Bottom” would play with Ricky Skaggs.
“There were a lot of local musicians who played with Charlie,” Armsworthy continued. “Xavier Stone, Louis Knott and Teddy Wathen. Whenever you saw Charlie on stage, Teddy was right behind him.”
Armsworthy said there were three songs that he and Thompson harmonized on in recent years: “Teardrops Falling in the Snow,” “Chiseled in Snow,” an old Gene Watson tune; and Reno and Smiley’s “She Has Forgotten.”
“How can I sing those songs now?” he asked. “There’s no one else out there I could do those bluegrass songs with.”
The California Ramblers are hosting a benefit for Thompson’s family Sunday, Jan. 10 at Toot’s Bar in Hollywood, where the singer often performed and spun records as a DJ. The event will begin at 1 p.m. There will be a $10 donation at the door, 50/50 raffles throughout the day, food and bake goods, a silent auction and more.
Services will be held Wednesday, Jan. 6 from 5-8 p.m. at the Hollywood Volunteer Fire Department. Services will be held at the same location Jan. 7 at 10 a.m. with interment to follow at Charles Memorial Gardens in Leonardtown.
“Charlie never met a stranger,” Armsworthy said. “Whether he knew you or not, he would always lend a hand. It goes to show you, there are no promises. You don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring.”
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com