Richard Thompson: Acoustic Classics

He played Al Bowlly when I saw him 2 weeks ago.

Proof!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaNPeZnmPbM
OK, no proof that I was there, but still.

Oh, he played it, but under protest — and then played it brilliantly.

I had the slightly odd experience, about 26 years ago, of sitting next to him on a shuttle at LAX, for quite a long time. (Obviously?) no-one else knew who he was. In the end, I asked for his autograph, which is in the front of my copy of C.B. MacPherson’s Possessive Individualism book. Later that night, I went to see Clive Gregson and Christine Collister in Oakland (they were part of his band at the time), and they signed underneath. If I’d known he was playing for a cricket team in LA I’d have asked to join. (No, I wouldn’t, I barely had the nerve to acknowledge that I knew who he was).

Thanks for the link to the new acoustic album. Indeed I like RT best in an acoustic setting. Almost 20 years ago I saw him with Dany Thompson. (With a nod to @harry b) Christine Collister was support and provided some great backing vocals. I’m not a great fan of his son but “Persuasion” performed by the the two together is one of my alltime favourites.

Henry the Human Fly or whatever his name is, ever since Book Song on early (US) FC album, has been right up there in a kind of Pantheon, one that shifts and morphs and changes utterly now and again, but I’ve been keeping an eye, and ear, on that boy for decades.Not the most carefully updated one though.
I was in a music store in Santa Cruz, Ca, buying some strings, fiddling with guitars. There was a guy there, I thought he was Australian, the shopkeepers were all over him, fawningly obsequious yadayada, but he was cool, they handed him some high dollar Martin, and he riffed a little thing in F&C. When I looked up from watching his fret hand… like I knew that he was watching me watch his chording, some shared thing, a little moment. Two guys who cared more about the sound than anything else, and how are you making that sound, anyway.
Just another Australian guy at the music store.
Later, on the way home, I saw a promo for his gig that night at some local venue.
Click.
The first twenty or so times I listened to Bee’s Wing I was unashamedly moved to tears. Manly, restrained tears, mind you.
Now it’s just deeply satisfying and soul-confirming.

We’re going to see him tonight in Bath!

(emmryss: sure, lots of old Fairport Convention photos, when he was young.)

Aggers made up for Boycott’s lack of manners by introducing Thompson to Shane Warne, who gave him some tips on bowling wrist spin.

dporpentine evidently thinks that even Boycott needs lessons in how to be rude.

That was such a massively douchebaggy comment that I just had to google… Holy cow, look at all the crap!!! Anyway, dporpentine on Maria Schneider: “I don’t know the rest of her work, but the sample used for this article, “Walking by Flashlight,” is schmaltz–a beautifully sung mid-Disney-movie imitation of the opening section of Knoxville, Summer 1915′ that’s not dimly recognizable as serious jazz.”

Dude, just shut up.

Is there some way in which we could make #15 a “sticky” comment? Someone who makes such a fool of themselves in such an arseholish manner shouldn’t be allowed to forget it just because the post has dropped off the front page. Maybe we could make it so his name always shows up as “dporpentine who said Richard Thompson was ludicrously fake music”.

Sorry, Taichung.

Back in the 198os, a sibling of mine treated my now-wife and me to a Kennedy Center concert featuring Richard Thompson, Nanci Griffith, the Roches, BeauSoleil, and Taj Mahal. Possibly another female folkie I’ve forgotten. I had an inkling of how great this was, but really no idea I’d probably never see a comparable lineup in such an intimate setting again. I don’t know if I’ve properly thanked my brother, come to think of it.

I’ve only seen him two or three times, but I’ve been a fan for forty years. My father cracked up on hearing “Mary and Joseph” from “Henry the Human Fly”, I’m not sure why. I had the impression he recognized the tune.

Even though I have a comprehensive if no longer up-to-date collection on disc within arm’s reach, I mostly enjoy him on YouTube, because, hey, live versions, and I get to see how it’s done.

A few years back I spent a couple of evenings at Hootananny in Inverness (great ale!) and the performers included a few Thompson songs. Even though they don’t actually belong to the traditional genre, they fit.

I don’t recall a beret in the mid-Nineties either. What arrested me the first time was that Vincent BL ’52 didn’t require two guitarists. I could summon only two words: Holy shit!

Looked at the songlist for Acoustic Classics. Me I would have included God Loves a Drunk and Crazyman Michael.

I agree with Matt…. another case is, well… Mickey Dolenz. I just saw The Monkees (I’ll do a post on that too, maybe) and he is really astounding.

Not all that rare outside of rock. Roy Haynes is an example.

I’ll have to dissent from those who prefer purely acoustic sets. I saw a short essentially power-trio set last year, and have liked the mixed sets best over many years of seeing him, although an acoustic set with David Byrne may have been my favorite. Thompson is a startlingly original electric guitarist.

As far as Al Bowly goes, I have the sense that he often rotates songs out of regular play and replaces them– e.g. “Calvary Cross,” which I have wanted to hear live for decades, got replaced by “Shoot Out the Lights.”

At WOMAD he played ‘Who Knows Where The Time Goes?’ (“I used to be in a band…”) which I haven’t heard from him before. Song as well as singer better with age.