Richard Thompson | |
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 Thompson performing in 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Richard John Thompson (1949-04-03)3 April 1949 (age 76) Notting Hill, London, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1967–present |
| Labels | |
| Member of | Thompson |
| Formerly of |
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Spouses | [2] |
| Website | richardthompson-music |
| Family | Teddy Thompson (son) Kamila Thompson (daughter) Zak Hobbs (grandson) |
Richard ThompsonOBE (born 3 April 1949) is an English songwriter, musician (primarily a guitarist), singer and record producer.[3]
Thompson first gained prominence in the late 1960s as the lead guitarist and songwriter for the folk rock groupFairport Convention, which he had co-founded in 1967. After departing the group in 1971, Thompson released his debut solo albumHenry the Human Fly in 1972. The next year, he formed a duo with his wifeLinda Thompson, which produced six albums, including the critically acclaimedI Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974) andShoot Out the Lights (1982). After the dissolution of the duo, Thompson revived his solo career with the release ofHand of Kindness in 1983. He has released eighteen solo studio albums. Three of his albums—Rumor and Sigh (1991),You? Me? Us? (1996), andDream Attic (2010)—have been nominated forGrammy Awards,[4] whileStill (2015) was his first UK Top Ten album. He continues to write and record new material and has frequently performed at venues throughout Europe and North America, and occasionally further afield.
Music criticNeil McCormick described Thompson as "a versatilevirtuoso guitarist and a sharp observational singer-songwriter whose work burns with intelligence and dark emotion".[5] His songwriting has earned him anIvor Novello Award[6] and, in 2006, a lifetime achievement award from BBC Radio.[6][7] His 1991 song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" was included inTime magazine's "All-TIME 100 Songs" list of the best English-language musical compositions released between 1923 and 2011.[8] Thompson was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the2011 New Year Honours for services to music.[9] Many varied musicians have recorded Thompson's compositions.[10][11]
His memoir,Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice, 1967–1975, was published in 2021.
Richard Thompson was born at 23 Ladbroke Crescent (offLadbroke Grove),Notting Hill, West London, England.[12] His father, a Scot, was aScotland Yard detective and an amateur guitar player; several other family members had played music professionally. He was the younger brother, by five years, of sister Perri, who became a fashion designer.[13][14] While attendingWilliam Ellis School inHighgate, he formed his first band, Emil and the Detectives (named aftera book and a movie by the same title), with classmateHugh Cornwell, later lead singer and guitarist ofthe Stranglers, on bass guitar. When he was a teenager Thompson moved with his family toWhetstone, near the northern end of the underground'sNorthern line.[12]
Interviewed in 2003, Thompson said:
Listening toBuddy Holly in 1956 was the point at which I wanted to pick up a guitar, although I didn't actually manage to do that until 1960 ... I playedShadows songs in school bands until I started hanging around with the guys that became Fairport Convention, and we would playBob Dylan,Phil Ochs,Richard Fariña ... the American singer-songwriters. We would go to Dylan's publisher and ask for songs that hadn't been recorded. We were interested in lyrics, and we were pretty idealistic.[15]
Like so many musicians of his generation, Thompson was exposed to and embracedrock and roll music at an early age, and he was also exposed to his father'sjazz andtraditional Scottish music record collection.[16] His father had seenDjango Reinhardt play inGlasgow in the 1930s and played guitar himself. He was later described by his son as "a bad amateur player ... with three chords, though, unfortunately, not C, F and G."[17] All these musical genres were to colour Thompson's playing in the years to come.
American producerJoe Boyd said:
He can imitate almost any style, and often does, but is instantly identifiable. In his playing you can hear the evocation of the Scottish piper's drone and the melody of the chanter as well as echoes ofBarney Kessel's andJames Burton's guitars andJerry Lee Lewis's piano. But no blues clichés.[18]
At the age of 18 Thompson co-founded folk rock groupFairport Convention. Largely on the strength of Thompson's playing, Boyd took them under his wing and signed them to his Witchseason production and management company.[19][20]
Boyd said:
And there was this group of very niceMuswell Hill grammar school boys and a girl playing American music.Leonard Cohen songs, andRichard Fariña songs, andBob Dylan songs, all being done in a kind of West-Coasty rock style. And then came the guitar solo, and Richard just played the most amazing solo. He played a solo which quotes fromDjango, fromCharlie Christian, you know, an incredibly sophisticated little solo. And that really amazed me, the breadth of his sophistication... and so, you know, at the end of the gig I was in the dressing room saying 'would you guys like to make a record?'[21]
Shortly thereafter Thompson, already acquiring a reputation as an outstanding guitar player, started writing songs seriously. This seems to have been out of necessity as Fairport Convention was at first essentially acover band.
I remember saying to Ashley [Hutchings, bassist] after a gig, that I was kind of embarrassed about doing the material we were doing, because it seemed that we should have outgrown doing covers – even though it was only 1967 – it somehow wasn't good enough and other bands were writing their own stuff and we should too. I remember being angry and saying to Ashley this isn't good enough, we've got to get some original material... and stuff started to trickle through.[22]
By early 1969, when Fairport's second albumWhat We Did on Our Holidays was recorded and released, Thompson was starting to emerge as a songwriter of distinction. As Fairport's lineup and their sound evolved, Thompson continued to grow in stature as a player and as a songwriter with compositions like "Meet on the Ledge".
On 12 May 1969, between the recording and release of their next albumUnhalfbricking, Fairport's van crashed on theM1 motorway on the way home from a gig atMothers, a club inBirmingham. DrummerMartin Lamble, aged 19, and Thompson's girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn were killed.[21][23] The rest of the band suffered injuries of varying severity.[24] Later in 1969, Fairport re-grouped with a new drummer,Dave Mattacks, and also invited the well known fiddle player,Dave Swarbrick, to join. Thompson and Swarbrick worked together to create songs such as "Crazy Man Michael" from the band's seminal 1969 folk-rock albumLiege & Lief and "Sloth" from its 1970 follow-upFull House.
In January 1971, Thompson announced that he was leaving Fairport Convention. His decision was instinctive, rather than a calculated career move:
I left Fairport as a gut reaction and didn't really know what I was doing, except writing. I was writing stuff and it seemed interesting and I thought it would be fun to make a record. And at the same time—70–71—I was doing a lot ofsession work as a way of avoiding any serious ideas about a career.[25]
In April 1972, he released his first solo albumHenry the Human Fly, recording withSandy Denny,Pat Donaldson,Sue Draheim,John Kirkpatrick,Barry Dransfield,Ashley Hutchings,Linda Peters,Andy Roberts, and others.[26] The album sold poorly and was panned by the press, especially the influentialMelody Maker magazine.[27] With timeHenry has come to be more highly regarded, but at the time the critics' response hurt both Thompson and his career.[27]
By the 1970s, Thompson had begun a relationship with the singerLinda Peters, who had sung onHenry the Human Fly. In October 1972 the couple were married atHampstead Town Hall and honeymooned inCorsica.[28][29] Thompson, with Linda now effectively his front woman, regrouped for his next album and the next phase of his career.
The first Richard andLinda Thompson album,I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, was recorded in May 1973 in short time and on a small budget. Largely because of the petrol shortage in Britain and its impact on the availability of vinyl for records,Bright Lights was held back byIsland Records for nearly a year before being released in April 1974. The album was well received by critics, though sales were less than stellar.
Thompson's lyrics expressed a rather dismal world view, and it has been suggested that the bleak subject matter of his songs helped to keep his recordings off the hit parade. A more likely explanation was given by ex-IslandA&R man Richard Williams in the 2003BBC TV documentarySolitary Life: Thompson was just not interested in fame and its trappings.[21]
The Thompsons recorded two more albums—Hokey Pokey andPour Down Like Silver, both released in 1975—before Richard Thompson decided to leave the music business. The couple moved to aSufi community inEast Anglia.
It was not apparent from their records at first, but the Thompsons had embraced an esotericSufi strand ofIslam in early 1974.[30]I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight was recorded before this conversion, but released some time afterwards. The songs for the second Richard and Linda album,Hokey Pokey, were similarly written some time ahead of the album's recording and eventual release. It wasPour Down Like Silver, with its cover photo of a turbaned Richard Thompson, that tipped the public off to the Thompsons' growing preoccupation with their faith.
The trilogy of albums released before and after his sojourn in the commune was heavily influenced by Thompson's beliefs and by Sufi scripture, but in the long run his religious beliefs have not influenced his work in an obvious manner. The outlook expressed in his songs, his musical style, the subjects addressed by his lyrics have not shown any fundamental change.[31] He remains a committedMuslim.[21]
Thompson started to re-engage with the world of professional music in 1977. He played on an album bySandy Denny, and had undertaken a short tour and started recording with a group of musicians who were also Sufis. Thompson askedJoe Boyd to produce these sessions, and two days were spent on the initial recordings. Boyd recalls that the sessions were not a success: "It was really, I felt, very poor. I didn't have much confidence in the musicians that he was working with. The atmosphere was very strange and it just didn't seem to work."[32]
At about this time the Thompsons and their family moved out of the commune and back to their old home inHampstead.[33] Boyd had already invited Richard Thompson to play onJulie Covington's debut album. With spare studio time and the Americansession musicians hired to work on the Covington album available, the Thompsons went back into the studio to record under their own name for the first time in three years.
The resulting album,First Light, was warmly received by critics[21] but did not sell particularly well. Neither did its follow up, 1979's harder-edged and more cynicalSunnyvista.Chrysalis Records did not take up their option to renew the contract, and the Thompsons found themselves without one.
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Gerry Rafferty had booked the Thompsons as the support act for his 1980 tour, and had also used Richard as a session player on hisNight Owl (1979) album. Rafferty offered to finance the recording of a new Richard and Linda Thompson album which he would then use to secure a contract for the Thompsons.[34] Richard Thompson fell out with Rafferty during this project and was not happy with the finished product.[35] Nevertheless, Rafferty kept his side of the bargain and presented the album to several record companies – none of which expressed interest in signing the Thompsons. Rafferty did not recover his investment.[36]
About a year later,Joe Boyd signed the Thompsons to his smallHannibal label and a new album was recorded.Shoot Out the Lights included new recordings of many of the songs recorded in 1980. Linda Thompson was pregnant at the time of the recording, so the album's release was delayed until they could tour behind the album. Breathing problems arising from her pregnancy also meant that Linda could not sing the lead part on some of these songs as she had done on demo tapes and the Rafferty-produced recordings.
As an interim measure, Richard Thompson agreed to a short (5-day), low-key solo tour of the U.S. This tour was set up by Nancy Covey, then concert director for McCabe's Guitar Shop inSanta Monica.[37] Covey, who had been in the UK in 1981 trying to sign Thompson to play at McCabe's, arranged for Thompson well-received 5 and 6 December shows. It was during this tour that Thompson and Covey developed an intimate relationship, and during that month, Richard and Linda Thompson separated.[38]
Upon its release in 1982,Shoot Out the Lights was lauded by critics and sold quite well – especially in the U.S.[39][40]
The Thompsons, now a couple for professional purposes only, toured the United States in support of the album, their only American tour together. Both the album and their live shows were well received by the American media,[39][40] andShoot Out the Lights effectively relaunched their career – just as their marriage was falling apart. The performances, with a backing band including bothSimon Nicol andDave Mattacks of Fairport Convention, were seen as strong,[40][41] but the tension between Richard and Linda was all too obvious. For this reason, the Thompsons' fans often refer to theShoot Out the Lights tour as "The Tour from Hell".[42] Upon returning home, Richard and Linda went their separate ways.
Richard Thompson continued recording as a solo artist. His 1983 albumHand of Kindness saw him working withBoyd again, but with a revised backing band and a more extroverted and up-tempo song selection.
With his separation from Linda finalized, Richard Thompson began to commute between twin bases in London and Los Angeles and to tour regularly in the USA. Encouraged by the success of his solo shows in late 1981 and early 1982, he began to perform solo with increasing frequency and continued to tour with a band. In 1983 and 1984, he toured the US and Europe with the Richard Thompson Big Band, which included two saxophone players in addition to the more usual rhythm section, second guitar andaccordion. Set lists included covers of classic rock 'n roll songs and jazz standards such as "Tuxedo Junction".
In 1985, Thompson signed withPolyGram and received a sizeable advance.[43] He and Nancy Covey married at an alcohol-free wedding that included a who's who of roots-music performers who Covey knew well from McCabe's and the Los Angeles music scene, and had introduced to Thompson. After their wedding, Thompson moved his home and working base to California. As part of the settlement that allowed Thompson to leave Boyd's Hannibal label for Polygram, the live albumSmall Town Romance was released. This comprised recordings made during Thompson's solo shows in the US in late 1981 and early 1982.Across a Crowded Room (1985) was his last album to be recorded in England and the last to haveBoyd as producer.[44][45] Thompson put together a new look backing band for the tour to promote this album, and some shows were filmed for a live video release (seeRichard Thompson discography).
In 1986, he releasedDaring Adventures, which was recorded in Los Angeles and produced byMitchell Froom.Daring Adventures, with a rich sound, markedly different production and use of Americansession players, was perceived by some as evidence of Thompson's increasing "Americanisation". Perhaps more significantly, the album continued the trend, begun withAcross A Crowded Room, of Thompson's songs moving away from the seemingly personal material and towards the character sketches and narratives for which he has since become famous. Froom and PolyGram had plans to target college and the growing "alternative" markets withDaring Adventures. Sales improved, but not substantially. Polygram declined an option to renew the contract.[46] Thompson's management negotiated a new deal withCapitol Records.
In 1985, Fairport Convention reformed and recorded the albumGladys' Leap. Thompson did not rejoin Fairport, but he did contribute a song to the project and played guitar on another track on the album.
1988 saw the release of Thompson's first album for Capitol,Amnesia. Froom was retained as producer, and once again the album was recorded in Los Angeles with many of the same players that Froom had called upon for theDaring Adventures sessions.
Thompson contributed music toBBC Northwest's documentaryHard Cash and appears on the eponymous accompanying album issued byTopic. A track from the album,Time To Ring Some Changes is included in the 2009 Topic Records 70-year anniversary boxed setThree Score and Ten as track thirteen on the sixth CD.
Thompson appears onWillie Nile's 1991Places I Have Never Been album.
In 1991, Thompson recordedRumor and Sigh, his second album for Capitol. Once again Froom produced. This album, particularly the acoustic guitar ballad "1952 Vincent Black Lightning", was hailed by critics and fans alike and greatly advanced Thompson's reputation as a leading traditional-style guitarist.[47]
Rumor and Sigh was nominated for aGrammy and sold well. However, a shake-up at Capitol saw Hale Milgrim (Thompson's champion and fan within the boardroom) replaced by Garry Gersh. Thus, Thompson's next albumMirror Blue was held back for almost a year before being released.
Thompson was awarded theOrville H. Gibson Award for best acoustic guitar player in 1997.[6][48]
In 1992, he performed withDavid Byrne. Their joint acoustic concert at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity inBrooklyn Heights, New York on 24 March, produced the albumAn Acoustic Evening, which was released the same year.[49]
Mirror Blue was released in 1994, to often negative reviews sparked by the production decisions that Thompson and Froom took. Thompson took to the road to promote the album. He was joined by drummerDave Mattacks,Danny Thompson (no relation) on double bass, andPete Zorn on acoustic guitar, backing vocals,mandolin and various wind instruments. This line-up toured with Thompson the following two years.
Thompson continued recording forCapitol until 1999, whenMock Tudor was recorded and released. His deal with Capitol was modified so that he could release and directly market limited-quantity, live recorded, not-for-retail albums. The first of these wasLive at Crawley, released in 1995.
In 1994 the tribute albumBeat the Retreat was issued, with Thompson's songs performed by such artists asR.E.M.,June Tabor andDavid Byrne.[50]
In 2001, Thompson declined the option to renew his contract with Capitol.
Thompson appeared on his ex-wife Linda's studio albumFashionably Late on the song "Dear Mary".[51] It was the first time the two had recorded together sinceShoot Out the Lights.
In 2003, theBBC produced a documentary about Thompson's long musical career, entitledSolitary Life, directed by Paul Bernays and narrated byJohn Peel. It featured interviews with Thompson from his home in California and contributions fromBilly Connolly,Bonnie Raitt, ex-wifeLinda Thompson,Harry Shearer and Thompson's then wife Nancy Covey. The programme was re-broadcast byBBC Four in September 2012.[52]
The move away from big labels and big budgets paradoxically brought a bigger marketing push and healthier sales. Thompson's first two self-funded releases, 2003'sThe Old Kit Bag and 2005'sFront Parlour Ballads, did well in theindie charts on both sides of the Atlantic.[citation needed] In May 2007 Thompson releasedSweet Warrior. The album was licensed to different labels in different territories:Shout! Factory in the US,P-Vine in Japan, Planet Records in Australia, andProper Records in the UK and Europe. In August of the same yearIsland released a live Richard and Linda Thompson album, compiled from recordings made during the November 1975 tour to promote thePour Down Like Silver album.
Thompson continued releasing "official bootlegs" on his boutique label as an additional source of revenue – all live recordings.
In early 2010, Thompson assembled a band and did a string of shows showcasing new material. The aim was to record the new material in a live setting. The recording and touring band consisted of Thompson, Pete Zorn, (acoustic guitar, flute, saxophone, mandolin, vocals);Michael Jerome (drums, vocals),Taras Prodaniuk, (bass guitar, vocals); andJoel Zifkin, (electric violin, mandolin, vocals). The resulting albumDream Attic, released in August the same year, was nominated for aGrammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.[53]
On 10 June 2010, Thompson was awarded theMojo Les Paul Award for "Guitar Legend".[54][55]
Thompson curated the 2010Meltdown Festival at London's South Bank Centre. The festival included a tribute to the recently deceasedKate McGarrigle, a feature of which was a rare reunion of Richard and Linda Thompson. He was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to music.[9] On 5 July 2011, he was awarded anhonorary doctorate by theUniversity of Aberdeen.[56]
In early 2013, Thompson releasedElectric, recorded in Nashville withBuddy Miller producing. The record enjoyed good reviews and debuted in the UK top 20. Thompson took to the road with a stripped-down "power trio" band on a multi-month tour on both sides of the Atlantic to promote the new album. Also that year Thompson appeared on his ex-wife Linda's fourth studio albumWon't Be Long Now, on the track "Love's for Babies and Fools".[57] It was the second time the two have recorded together sinceShoot Out the Lights.
In 2014, Thompson releasedAcoustic Classics,[58] an album featuring acoustic renditions of 14 songs from his back catalogue, on his Beeswing label. The record reached number 16 on theUK Albums Chart.[59] Thompson appears alongside family members, both blood related and by marriage, on the albumFamily (2014) by Thompson (the band being named for all the Thompsons that appear), performing two songs solo and contributing to others as well. The album was produced by son Teddy Thompson and features ex-wife Linda Thompson,The Rails who are Thompson's daughterKami Thompson and her husband James Walbourne, as well as other related musicians, including Walbourne's brother and Richard Thompson's son from his second marriage.[60][61]
Thompson releasedStill in June 2015, an album produced byJeff Tweedy ofWilco and recorded in Tweedy's The Loft Studio.[62] The album reached number 10 in the UK Album chart, his first album to reach the UK top 10.[63] In September 2015, he appeared onBBC Two'sLater... with Jools Holland, where he performed "All Buttoned Up" and ""She Never Could Resist a Winding Road" from his albumStill.[64] This was followed, in 2017, by a second acoustic albumAcoustic Classics II which reached number 24 on theUK Albums Chart.[65] andAcoustic Rarities, an album of new recordings of some of the more obscure songs in the Thompson catalogue, some previously existing only as cover versions.[citation needed]
Thompson's eighteenth studio album,13 Rivers, was released on 14 September 2018. It was written after a period of difficulty for Thompson's family[66][67] with songs that stick "close to a vision of darkness, gloom, and noise".[68] Thompson produced the record himself atBoulevard Recording in Los Angeles.[69] On 30 September 2019 Thompson played at theRoyal Albert Hall to celebrate his 70th birthday.[5]
In July 2019 Thompson was featured in theBBC Four documentaryClassic Albums: The Crickets: The 'Chirping' Crickets, explaining the influence thatBuddy Holly had had on him personally, and on the development of rock and roll in general.[70]
In 2021 his bookBeeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice, 1967–1975 was published byAlgonquin Books, mainly a memoir of his life as a musician from 1967 to 1975.[71] TheLos Angeles Review of Books called it an "absorbing, witty, often deliciously biting read, as all rock memoirs should be".[72]
Thompson performed on the acoustic stage of theGlastonbury Festival in June 2023.[73] Reviewing the set forThe Guardian, Keza MacDonald said, "It's just him and a beautiful, bright-sounding acoustic guitar. He plays so well that you can't take your eyes off his picking hand, as you try to figure out how he's making the sound of three guitars come out of one. He is one of the most stunningly gifted guitarists you'll ever see live, and his dextrously fingerpicked mid-song diversions prompt claps and whoops from a crowd that is otherwise quietly reverent."[74]
In January 2024 Thompson announced a band tour of the U.S. and U.K., with the British leg culminating in a date at London'sRoyal Albert Hall on 8 June.[75][76]Ship to Shore was released that May. Reviewing the concert at theGlasgow Royal Concert Hall forThe Times, Peter Ross awarded the gig four stars and said, "There were flashes of brilliance, however. "Guns Are the Tongues", withHobbs on mandolin, built over seven minutes to an ecstatic darkness. "Dimming of the Day" had a gentle grace. Best of all was "Beeswing", which Thompson performed alone, fingerpicking an acoustic. Intricate and soulful, it's a song in which his technical ability and poetic voice are held in balance. The brief silence that followed said more than any applause could; we knew we'd heard something exquisite."[77] The final night, at the Royal Albert Hall, featured guest artists includingRalph McTell,James Walbourne,Kami Thompson,Linda Thompson,Squeeze,Danny Thompson andCrowded House.[78][79][80] On 9 August Thompson headlined the second night of the annual Cropredy Festival.[81][82]
In 2020 the 1969 albumDudu Phukwana and the "Spears", the debut album by South African saxophonistDudu Pukwana and his band, produced byJoe Boyd, was remastered and reissued by Matsuli Music as a double-LP set with nine previously unissued tracks that were recorded in 1969, and which feature a number of guest artists such as Thompson andSimon Nicol.[83][84][85][86]
In October 2023 Thompson released the instrumental "Lament For Mariupol" as part of the charity compilation albumHeal the Sky which aimed to raise funds to help children who were victims of the war in Ukraine.[87][88]
On 7 July 2024 Thompson was the guest ofMichael Berkeley for his BBC Radio 3 programmePrivate Passions, where his choices includedBeethoven,Purcell,Britten andManuel de Falla.[89]
In June 2025 Thompson was forced to withdraw from performing at theGate To Southwell Festival after falling and breaking three ribs.[90]
In between leavingFairport Convention in early 1971 and releasing his debut solo album in 1972, he undertook a large amount ofsession work, most notably on albums byJohn Martyn,Al Stewart,Matthews Southern Comfort,Sandy Denny,Mike Heron andNick Drake.
During the same period, he also worked on two collaborative projects.Morris On was recorded withAshley Hutchings,John Kirkpatrick,Dave Mattacks and Barry Dransfield, and was a collection of English traditional tunes arranged for electric instruments.The Bunch were almost the reverse conceptually – a grouping of Englishfolk rock musicians (includingSandy Denny,Linda Peters and members ofFairport Convention) recording a selection of classicrock and roll tunes.
Thompson has continued to guest on albums by an array of artists, fromCrowded House,Bonnie Raitt andVivian Stanshall, toNorma Waterson andBeauSoleil and folk artists likeLoudon Wainwright III,Cathal McConnell (ofThe Boys of the Lough) andBob Davenport. He has also performed and recorded withTeddy Thompson, his son from his marriage toLinda Thompson.
Since the early 1980s,[91] Thompson has appeared atFairport Convention's annualCropredy Festival, both in his own right and as a participant in sets with current and former Fairport members. These sets are seldom confined to performances of songs out of the Thompson or Fairport Convention canons, and in recent years some surprise offerings have included the soul classic "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (with Thompson backed by theRoy Wood Big Band),The Beatles' "I'm Down" and even "The Lady Is a Tramp".
Thompson has displayed a penchant for theavant garde as well, working with formerPere Ubu singerDavid Thomas's grouping The Pedestrians on two albums in 1981 and 1982, respectively. In the 1980s, he was associated with a loose-fitting group calledThe Golden Palominos, who were led by drummerAnton Fier and included at times on stage and on recordJack Bruce,Michael Stipe,Carla Bley,John Lydon,Bill Laswell and others. He has worked with experimental guitaristHenry Kaiser, most notably as part of the ad hoc groupingFrench Frith Kaiser Thompson with whom he recorded two albums. In 1997 he worked with long-time friend and band memberDanny Thompson to record aconcept albumIndustry that dealt with the decline of British industry. A year later he worked withearly music expertPhilip Pickett on the acclaimedBones of All Men which fusedrenaissance tunes with contemporary music.
For several years Thompson devised and toured his show1000 Years of Popular Music. The inspiration for this came whenPlayboy asked Thompson (and many other music industry figures) in 1999 for their suggestions for the "top ten songs of the millennium". Guessing thatPlayboy expected most people's lists to start at around 1950, Thompson took the magazine at its word and presented a list of songs from the 11th century to the present day. Perhaps not surprisingly,Playboy did not use his list, but the exercise gave him the idea for a show which takes a chronological trip through popular music across the ages. Thompson acknowledges that this is an ambitious undertaking, partly because he reckons that he is technically unqualified to sing 98% of the material,[92] and partly because of the sparse musical setting he restricts himself to: besides his acoustic guitar, he's backed by singer/pianistJudith Owen and percussionist/singerDebra Dobkin. A typical performance would start with a medieval round, progress via aPurcell aria, Victorianmusic hall andHoagy Carmichael and end with Thompson's take on theBritney Spears hit "Oops!... I Did It Again".[93]
In 2004 Thompson was asked to create the soundtrack music for theWerner Herzog documentaryGrizzly Man. The score, which was recorded over a two-day period in December 2004, brought Thompson together with a group of improvisational musicians, mostly from theSan Francisco Bay area; video footage from the sessions was edited into a mini-documentary,In the Edges, which was included with the DVD release ofGrizzly Man.
In 2009 Thompson was commissioned to write a piece for the International Society of Bassists in honour of Danny Thompson. The resultingCabaret of Souls, a musical play set in the underworld, has been performed inState College, Pennsylvania, London, and Los Angeles with a cast that includesHarry Shearer,Judith Owen,Debra Dobkin,Pete Zorn, eitherDanny Thompson orDavid Piltch, and a 12-piece string section conducted byPeter Askim. This suite was eventually commercially released in late 2012.
In 2006 and 2013, Thompson recordedHugh S. Roberton's "Mingulay Boat Song" and the traditional "General Taylor" for thesea shanty-compilationsRogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys andSon of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys.[94][95]
In July 2019,New West Records released a soundtrack album for the documentaryThe Cold Blue, featuring the film's original score composed by Thompson. The film, directed byErik Nelson, focuses on theEighth Air Force. It uses footage taken by directorWilliam Wyler for his 1944 documentaryMemphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress.[96][97]
There are a number of retrospective collections of Thompson's work, many containing material which is unavailable elsewhere. 1976's(guitar, vocal) was a collection of unreleased material from the previous eight years of Thompson's appearances on theIsland label. The 3-CD setWatching the Dark combines his better-known songs and previously unreleased live and studio tracks.Action Packed is a compilation of tracks from his Capitol releases, plus three hard-to-find songs. Finally, in 2006, the independent label Free Reed releasedRT- The Life and Music of Richard Thompson, a 5-CD box set consisting almost entirely of previously unreleased performances of songs from throughout Thompson's long career.
Thompson's songs have been extensively covered; for example,Dimming of the Day has been performed by artists such asThe Neville Brothers,Bonnie Raitt,Emmylou Harris,David Gilmour,The Blind Boys of Alabama,June Tabor,The Corrs andAlison Krauss & Union Station. There have been several tribute compilations of other artists' interpretations of his work, including:Capitol'sBeat the Retreat: Songs by Richard Thompson andGreen Linnet'sThe World Is a Wonderful Place: The Songs of Richard Thompson, both released in 1994.
Thompson makes use of the "pick and fingers" technique (sometimes referred to as "hybrid picking") where he plays bass notes and rhythm with a pick between his first finger and thumb, and adds melody and punctuation by plucking the treble strings with his fingers. He also makes use of differentguitar tunings, such as (low to high)CGDGBE,DADGBE,DADGAD, and more. This enables him to adapt traditional songs, as onStrict Tempo! and1000 Years of Popular Music. Thompson occasionally makes use of a thumb-pick, playing infingerstyle, the most notable example being on the motorcycle ballad "1952 Vincent Black Lightning".
Thompson is often associated with theFenderStratocaster guitar. He has made prominent use of Stratocasters, as he has a general preference for the sound ofsingle coil pick-ups.
When I started playing Fenders in 1968, it was unfashionable because everyone in England was playing Gibsons and trying to get a big, fat sound likeEric Clapton had inCream. I just wanted a little more bite.
Prior to using a Stratocaster with Fairport Convention he used aGibson Les Paul withP-90 pick-ups. He then switched to a late 60s Stratocaster. Since leaving Fairport Convention he has continued to use electric guitars with single coil pick-ups, most famously a late-1950s Stratocaster but also two custom built electrics by Danny Ferrington as well as other Stratocasters, variousTelecaster-type guitars and, in the studio, aDanelectro U2.
As regardseffects, he has made significant use of modulation andvibrato type effects pedals, most notably theUnivibe and emulations thereof.
Thompson has made intermittent use ofRoland's GK-1 pick-up and GL-2 synthesiser over the years. He made use of these devices on 1979'sSunnyvista album and has occasionally used them in concert.
Since the early 1990s, Thompson has made prominent use ofLowden acoustic guitars for studio and live work; Lowden have made a signature model for him. Before this he used aMartin 000-18 as well as instruments built by Danny Ferrington.
For live work, his acoustic guitars are fitted with a Sunrise pick-up and an internal condenser microphone. The output from the pick-up is usually fed into some effects pedals, typically adelay pedal and aUni-Vibe.[98]
Thompson had his first son, Jesse, in the early 1970s with American tour booker Liz Gordon after a brief relationship.[99]
In the early 1970s, Thompson began a relationship with the singer Linda Peters, who sang on Thompson's albumHenry the Human Fly. In October 1972 the couple were married at Hampstead Town Hall.[100] The couple worked as a duo and have three children: Muna Thompson and the musiciansTeddy Thompson andKamila Thompson. Richard and Linda Thompson separated in 1982.
Richard Thompson married Nancy Covey in 1985, and was with Covey until they separated in 2018.[101] Thompson and Covey have a son,Jack Covey Thompson, a musician and visual artist who lives in London and has recorded with Henry Kaiser, Cuban musician Yelfris Valdez, and the Thompson family.[102]
In 2021, Richard Thompson married his third wife, the author, actor, singer and songwriter Zara Phillips[101][103] with whom he lives inNew Jersey. They contribute to one another's musical projects.
In 2024 his touring band for the albumShip to Shore included Thompson's grandson (Muna's son)Zak Hobbs.[104]
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