Front Parlour Ballads

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Lionel Richie scores first British No 1 in 23 years". The Independent. 6 July 2015 . Retrieved 8 January 2020. Mr Lacey" (Hutchings)– this version is from a 1968 BBC radio broadcast is included on the 19-CD boxset Sandy Denny.– 2:53

In 2003, the BBC produced a documentary about Thompson's long musical career, entitled Solitary Life, directed by Paul Bernays and narrated by John Peel. It featured interviews with Thompson from his home in California and contributions from Billy Connolly, Bonnie Raitt, ex-wife Linda Thompson, Harry Shearer and Thompson's then wife Nancy Covey. The programme was re-broadcast by BBC Four in September 2012. [48] Thompson continued releasing "official bootlegs" on his boutique label as an additional source of revenue – all live recordings.About a year later, Joe Boyd signed the Thompsons to his small Hannibal 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.

With Fairport Convention – (l-r) Thompson, Sandy Denny (seated), Simon Nicol, Martin Lamble, Ashley Hutchings – in 1969. Photograph: Gems/Redferns Drake sold so few records in his lifetime he was scarcely a professional threat, but his blank immunity to approval and his unshowy refusal to compromise presented a form of unspoken challenge to Martyn, who affected not to care about such things but probably in the end cared too much. 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 like Eric Clapton had in Cream. I just wanted a little more bite. When we speak, he’s midway through recording the audiobook, and recently had to read the chapter about that May morning. He speaks softly. “We never mourned properly. There wasn’t the language then to describe those feelings. I’m still learning.”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); and Joel Zifkin, ( electric violin, mandolin, vocals). The resulting album Dream Attic, released in August the same year, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. [49] BeesWeb – Catch of the Day". Richardthompson-music.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012 . Retrieved 22 April 2012. Wilcox, Tyler (28 April 2015). "Richard Thompson:: Beatnik Walking". Aquarium Drunkard . Retrieved 29 April 2015. Gerry Rafferty had booked the Thompsons as the support act for his 1980 tour, and had also used Richard as a session player on his Night Owl 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. [31] Richard Thompson fell out with Rafferty during this project and was not happy with the finished product. [32] 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. [33] His death was not entirely a surprise, but it shook the Martyns hard. Beverley felt she shared at least some understanding of the pain Drake had been in. “I was taking antidepressants in 1972 or 73,” she says. “I knew that he was ill and he needed help, but who could you go to? Sometimes he would talk, sometimes he wouldn’t talk, sometimes he would have a cup of tea and hold it for three hours looking out at the sea.”

Thomas and his brother or possibly son William, both of Winsbury in Shropshire, were given protection for being in Scotland in November 1336 [see 'Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland'; Vol.5, no.3538, p.505(Supplementary; Public Records Office, Ed. Grant Simpson & James Galbraith; available online]. Winsbury is a small township of 1 square mile just to the west of Chirbury. It was the base of the Winsbury family in the 13th and 14th centuries.[See R W Eyton 'Antiquities of Shropshire'; Vol. XI. pp. 167-172. Available online.] Thomas was a mid-level official in the service of Shropshire and the English central authorities. [For an example see Calendar of Fine Rolls 1331 p.290 & 1333, p.374]. There seem to be only one place named Winsbury. Thomas and William of Winsbury were in Scotland when these popular ballads were being composed. If there is a connection the exiled king would have been David II who was in France from 1333 to 1341, however he had no children at all.

# 4 – 1952 Vincent Black Lightning

Thompson released Still in June 2015, an album produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and recorded in Tweedy's The Loft Studio. [58] The album reached number 10 in the UK Album chart, his first album to reach the UK top 10. [59] In September 2015, he appeared on BBC Two's Later... with Jools Holland, where he performed "All Buttoned Up" and ""She Never Could Resist a Winding Road" from his album Still. [60] This was followed, in 2017, by a second acoustic album Acoustic Classics II which reached number 24 on the UK Albums Chart. [61] and Acoustic 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] 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 of Barney Kessel's and James Burton's guitars and Jerry Lee Lewis's piano. But no blues clichés. [15] In 2009, Thompson was commissioned to write a piece for the International Society of Bassists in honour of Danny Thompson. The resulting Cabaret of Souls, a musical play set in the underworld, has been performed in State College (Pennsylvania), London, and Los Angeles with a cast that includes Harry Shearer, Judith Owen, Debra Dobkin, Pete Zorn, either Danny Thompson or David Piltch, and a 12-piece string section conducted by Peter Askim. This suite was eventually commercially released in late 2012. Tim Adams (11 April 2010). "Why Richard Thompson is keeping the faith". The Observer . Retrieved 14 May 2013.

The book ends in the mid-1970s, after Thompson converts to Sufism, living a stripped-down life, even getting rid of his furniture at one point. I note Thompson now has a sofa – he smiles – but he still prays every day at set times, observes Ramadan, pays the zakat: “I just do the same things that a quarter of people in the world do.” Islam is like a grid for him that he sits upon each day. It stopped him drinking, gave him peace. It continues to. Denselow, Robin (30 September 2019). "Richard Thompson at 70: on love, loss and being a Muslim in Trump's US". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019. Willie O Winsbury is Child Ballad 100 ( Roud 64). The song, of which there are many variants, is a traditional Scottish ballad that dates from at least 1775, and is known under several other names, including "Johnnie Barbour" and "Lord Thomas of Winesberry".Thompson’s work as a solo artist has vacillated in style and approach — from the exuberant commercial pop of Daring Adventures and Rumor And Sigh to the mostly downtrodden gestures of You? Me? Us? and Mirror Blue. Throughout, the fundaments of his persona and his uncompromising nature have never wavered. No punches pulled, no concessions made, no fabulous makeovers to appease the masses. To be a Thompson fan is to take him as he is and expect nothing else. To be fair, that isn’t always easy. Thompson is joined by his daughter Kami, son Teddy and ex-wife Linda at his 70th birthday show at London’s Royal Albert Hall, 2019. Photograph: Gus Stewart/Redferns 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- Island A&R man Richard Williams in the 2003 BBC TV documentary Solitary Life: Thompson was just not interested in fame and its trappings. [18]