Mayo Thompson (born February 26, 1944) is an American musician and visual artist best known as the leader of the experimental rock band Red Krayola.

He went on to study at St. Thomas University, trying variously, off and on, in some cases simultaneously, pre-Law, Creative Writing, English and American Literature, Philosophy, and Art History, before dropping out and starting The Red Crayola with Frederick Barthelme in 1966.

In March 1968, he started working with local musician Johndavid Bartlett at Gold Star Studios, the same place where She's About a Mover was recorded.

He started producing the album which contained instrumental cameos from Johnny Winter, Jimmy Reed and Stacy Sutherland of the 13th Floor Elevators.

The album consists instead of ten lyrically dense but warm-hearted pop songs, in various styles – Dylan-inspired blues-rock, Tex-Mex pop-rock with psychedelic touches, and early country rock not dissimilar to the contemporary work of Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers.

When the label decided to begin releasing records in 1978, Thompson was asked to assist in producing them because Travis did not feel that he had enough experience in the studio.

Thompson is credited as producer on early records by The Fall, Stiff Little Fingers, The Raincoats, Cabaret Voltaire, Kleenex and many other seminal groups.

In 1983 he recorded a series of monologues and vocal tracks for a collaborative effort with German musicians Dieter Moebius and Conny Plank.

While living in Germany in 1987, he began collaborating with the German painter Albert Oehlen,[10] first on a soundtrack for the film The Last of England by Derek Jarman.

In the early 1990s, Thompson met the avant-garde guitarist David Grubbs who offered him a chance to release new music with Red Crayola on Drag City in Chicago.

[13] Pitchfork attributes Mayo Thompson as "the primary oracle for a generation of art punks, industrial savants, and new-wave scientists",[14] with the 1967 record The Parable of Arable Land being called a "precursor to industrial rock" by AllMusic's Ritchie Unterberger,[15] and their 1968 follow-up God Bless the Red Krayola and All Who Sail With It being dubbed "bootleg Einstürzende Neubauten at its grimiest atonality" by music critic Alex Lindhardt.