Welcoming one of country’s
ALAN NICHOL HAS THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE ROOTS MUSIC SCENE IN THE REGION
AFTER a spate of visitors from north America have captured the limelight in recent weeks, it is the turn of one of this country’s finest musicians to lead-off today.
Richard Thompson, the complete songwriter/guitarist/singer package, is back on Tyneside this coming week with a show in Sage Gateshead’s Hall 1 next Wednesday.
This time he is in solo acoustic mode and brings a recently released album, Acoustic Classics Vol II, which contains 14 tracks from his extensive, and critically acclaimed, back catalogue.
Thompson’s last visit here, just over two years ago at the same venue, saw him fronting his powerful electric trio to promote the release of his album, Still, which he did in conjunction with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy.
Since touring with that album, Thompson returned to the studio to re-fashion a batch of songs, some dating back to his early years – Genesis Hall, Meet On The Ledge, for example – when he was the teenage lead guitarist (and emerging songwriter ) with Fairport Convention, plus some more recent tracks.
In addition to that, just this month, he has issued another 14 tracks of Acoustic Rarities which act as a companion-piece to the Acoustic Classics albums.
Alongside familiar songs like Sloth, Poor Ditching Boy and Never Again he demonstrates not only the depth of his catalogue but also the range of his writing.
Songs like I Must Have A March, They Tore The Hippodrome Down and Alexander Graham Bell – the latter with the same wry, tongue-tying subject-command as Tom Lehrer’s The Elements or Eric Idle’s Galaxy Song – give ample proof that he is one of the era’s most gifted writers.
He has won countless marks of recognition for his songwriting (a prestigious Ivor Novello Award among them) but more telling is the list of artists who have covered his work. Bonnie Raitt, Robert Plant, Los Lobos, REM, Elvis Costello, Crowded House, Mary Black are just a few of them. Just two of his songs – Dimming Of The Day and 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (a tale about star-crossed lovers and based on the titular fastest production motor-bike of its time) – have over 70 cover versions between them.
The latter, undoubtedly a rock-solid fan-favourite, was even covered (though not as yet recorded) by Bob Dylan. When he heard about Dylan’s rendition, Thompson, in typically self-effacing manner, thought it was a hoax.
Thompson need not have been so modest, however, as he has been the recipient of all manner of music-business tokens of worth from the likes of Mojo magazine, BBC Folk Awards, numerous Grammy nominations, Americana Music Association and, as if to underline his versatility and inventiveness, was chosen in Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 20 Guitarists of All Time (at number 19) in the company of Hendrix, Beck, Duane Allman, BB King, Ry Cooder and other six-string icons. He was awarded the OBE in 2011 for services to music.
What makes Thompson so unique is the fact that he straddles several styles and genres, patently with folk and rock at the core, without pitching for commercialism per se.
His guitar work has embellished the recordings of a hugely diverse crowd. From seminal UK folk scene artists like Nick Drake, John Martyn, Sandy Denny to Cajun music acts BeauSoleil and Michel Doucet, the avant garde Golden Palominos and his own FFKT combo to T Bone Burnett, Robert Plant, Bonnie Raitt and Loudon and Rufus Wainwright and scores of others.
I can’t think of another musician who has been so