The music thing is just a part-time gig for a 80-year-old bass singer. Joe Thompson’s regular job is driving a school bus. On the side, reported USA Today, he leads a legendary gospel quartet, which broke big in 2000 by appearing on the soundtrack for the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou?”
Thompson loves driving children so much so that he mentioned it in his acceptance speech when his quartet, The Fairfield Four, which won Best Roots Album for “Still Rockin’ My Soul” at the Grammys on Feb. 15 in Los Angeles. “I would like to send a shout-out to the transportation department in Wilson County, Tennessee,” said Thompson.
The Fairfield Four contributed to the “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou” soundtrack with “Lonesome Valley.”
School bus driver Joe Thompson speaks beginning at the 1:15 mark, though he thanked his school bus children earlier on stage when receiving the Grammy.
