Exclusive: Thompson Square Offer Advice For a Happy Marriage

Thompson Square, the husband-and-wife duo made up of Keifer and Shawna Thompson, have been married 19 years. The couple, who will release their third studio album, Masterpiece, on Friday, June 1, have learned plenty after almost two decades living and working together, and are now passing that wisdom on to others.

"Make sure you're friends first," Keifer tells PopCulture.com. "Friends, they go through all kinds of different things. You fight with your friends and if you're real friends, you can punch them in the face one day and you're drinking a beer the next day. That's what we do a lot. You just kind of get through everything. When you have that friend base, that friend foundation, even when you don't love that person, you always like them.

"It's a thing with us," he continues. "I think we are best friends. We haven't been apart in probably two weeks at a time in the 19 years that we've been married. We've literally been together this whole time. I think most people would probably like to spend more time with their friend than their spouse. I know I would. But it just so happens that it's the same person. I think that's really a huge key to our success as far as a couple is just being buddies. If I want to go out and do something without her, I sort of start thinking, 'Well, I'd kind of like here to be here.' So that's a big part of it, I think."

The couple met at a singing competition, where the sparks instantly flew.

"It was a weekly contest that they had," Shawna recalls. "When I first moved to town, that was how I met people. I wasn't in school or anything 'cause I just moved to Nashville from high school, graduating high school. I think it was on a Wednesday night. There was a contest Monday night at the Nashville Palace and the Wednesday night one at the Nashville Nightlife. That's where we met and we've literally been together ever since that night."

Now also parents to two-year-old Cooper, Keifer wrote the title track of Masterpiece, which says, "Shakespeare sure knew how to write down / Words that will live throughout time / And that Eiffel Tower's still standing /Was built to be one of a kind / Da Vinci's got his Mona Lisa / And Beethoven's got his symphonies / But you're my masterpiece," in honor of their child.

"It's been an absolute blessing to have him in our life," says Keifer. "So I just really started thinking about him and comparing him to other masterpiece-type situations and things that we think about when we hear that term. To me, he's as important as these worldly global achievements."

Thompson Square will spend much of the next several months on the road, as a family of three, performing all over the country. Find a list of all of their upcoming shows on their website.

Photo Credit: ThompsonSquare.com