He founded the W. L. Thompson Music Company and tried his hand with some success at secular compositions before finding his forte in hymns and gospel songs.

Thompson took a strong interest in local history, and paid for a large stone and tablet to mark the spot where Confederate General John Hunt Morgan and his raiders were captured near Lisbon, Ohio.

[2] Thompson began composing in his teens and in addition to hymns, wrote about 100 secular songs, including "My Home on the Old Ohio" and "Gathering Shells from the Seashore.

He said, "No matter where I am, at home or hotel, at the store or traveling, if an idea or theme comes to me that I deem worthy of a song, I jot it down in verse.

A member of the Church of Christ,[4] Thompson is best known as the writer and composer of hymns and gospel songs, to which he increasingly devoted his talents after his teenage years.

It has been featured in the films Junebug[5] and A Prairie Home Companion (sung by Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin), in the Anne Tyler novel The Accidental Tourist, and the television series True Blood.

[14][8] "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling" was sung by the choir of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church at the funeral for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.[15] and is used widely today as an invitation hymn in evangelistic services.