British axeman Richard Thompson turns it up a notch: Performer and his Electric Trio come to Ponte Vedra Concert Hall on Feb. 2
Although guitar legend Richard Thompson is well-known for his groundbreaking folk career, his current tour finds the 62-year-old London singer/songwriter performing with his Electric Trio.
Of course, Thompson has always had a keen flair for the unexpected, making his name with pioneering Brit-folk outfit Fairport Convention in the late '60s before abruptly quitting the group in 1971. Thompson then married his frequent musical collaborator Linda Peters in 1972 and put their relationship on full public view with hit albums I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight, Hokey Pokey, and Pour Down Like Silver. But by 1975, the couple had withdrawn from the public eye to join a Sufi Islam commune.
In the mid-'80s, Thompson further shocked his British compatriots by moving to California, where he ignited a successful solo career that’s always enjoyed cult status with hardcore folk fans, music critics and guitar nerds alike. By the early 2000s, Thompson had shed his major-label past to go it alone as an independent artist marketing and selling his own albums, which actually increased his profile and sales. And in 2006, Thompson took a Playboy Magazine request for a “Best Songs of the Millennium” list seriously, coming up with his 1,000 Years of Popular Music CD and tour.
Drift caught up with the effusive Thompson to talk about Celtic influences, Beyonce, the Queen of England and the real meaning of Islam.
Drift: Your past tours have often been themed, Richard. Is there any such plan on the current tour with your Electric Trio?
Richard Thompson: Hopefully we’ll be playing some new material we haven’t done before, some selections off the last album, and then a whole bunch of stuff going back through the years. Back through the decades, actually — help!
Drift: You’ve been playing music for nearly 50 years. What first sparked your interest in the guitar?
RT: The guitar was a popular instrument when I was a small kid in the ‘50s, and I wanted one but no one took me seriously. I saw Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly and on TV looking very cool with guitar, and I finally got one when I was 11 years old. I first played in an instrumental band doing The Ventures kind of stuff, then I was in a school band for a few years, and then at 18 I turned professional in the psychedelic clubs around London.
Drift: Your first big band, Fairport Convention, is considered one of the most seminal British bands in folk history. Did you realize at the time that you were redefining the music?
RT: Starting to play more British-style music was a deliberate policy — something that we did think about and were conscious of. We were also aware that what we were doing was quite different. Revolutionary, really. And I still subscribe to that style — the hybrid of rock ‘n’ roll and Celtic and English traditional forms.
Drift: Growing up in London, where did those decidedly rural influences come from?
RT: I think my music does have a slightly different slant, with a strong Celtic influence. That’s the stuff I grew up listening to in a traditional Scottish family, so it’s in the mix somewhere.
Drift: Do you find it hard to find 45 years after beginning your musical career to still find songwriting inspiration?
RT: No, because I’m not in a crowded field. If I were a country artist I’d think, ”Oh my God, I only have three chords and topics!” Broken hearts, honky-tonks, and C, F, and G. How many combinations can there be, and how many songwriters are there in Nashville, and how many songs do they each write in the year? It must be hundreds of thousands, and many of them probably sound remarkable similar [laughs]. There are a few great ones, I’m sure, but I’m in a much less crowded field, where there are only so many people with the interests that I have. It’s actually kind of a wide-open field, and I keep thinking of things that other people haven’t tried before — and that I haven’t tried before. So I’m always finding inspiration.
Drift: When you created the 1000 Years of Popular Music CD and tour you certainly went a ways back to find inspiration — all the way back to 1068, actually. Is it challenging to adapt music that old for modern tastes?
RT: It’s definitely tough — really impossible. But the attempt that we make at is not bad considering that other people haven’t been able to do it any better. If you take somebody who specializes in classical music, they couldn’t do popular music. And if you take somebody that specializes in early music, well, past the 1600s they start to founder [laughs]. I think we do not a bad job of taking a huge range of styles and turning it into an interesting experience. And I hate to say it, but it is educational, and eye opening sometimes, even for us doing the research because we stumble across these really beautiful songs that get lost as time marches on and fashions change. Go back to the 17th or 18th century and there are these wonderful things just waiting to be dusted off.
Drift: When you created the 1000 Years of Popular Music CD and tour you certainly went a ways back to find inspiration — all the way back to 1068, actually. Is it challenging to adapt music that old for modern tastes?
RT: It’s definitely tough — really impossible. But the attempt that we make at is not bad considering that other people haven’t been able to do it any better. If you take somebody who specializes in classical music, they couldn’t do popular music. And if you take somebody that specializes in early music, well, past the 1600s they start to founder [laughs]. I think we do not a bad job of taking a huge range of styles and turning it into an interesting experience. And I hate to say it, but it is educational, and eye opening sometimes, even for us doing the research because we stumble across these really beautiful songs that get lost as time marches on and fashions change. Go back to the 17th or 18th century and there are these wonderful things just waiting to be dusted off.
Drift: And I assume some of those songs come from the grand American folk tradition, right?
RT: Yes, we do some American folk songs because we don’t want our American audiences to feel left out or neglected. Of course American folk forms are based on European forms that became customized to the America, lifestyle and landscape. And the American musical genius starts to appear around the turn of the last century with things like jazz, a wonderful American art form.
Drift: You moved to the U.S. in the mid-'80s. What prompted your relocation, and do you miss Britain?
RT: Well, I married an American and it seemed a more logical place to live at the time. If you can stay out of prison, it’s a remarkable easy country to live in, as long as you stay on the right side of the law. I do miss the UK, but I get back at least once a year, which is probably enough. The thing I don’t miss is the weather from October to April — sometimes October to September.
Drift: You’ve been a devout Sufi Muslim since the ‘70s. How has that affected your music, and what are your thoughts on the misconceptions of Islam around the world?
RT: Whatever you believe in informs everything that you do really, so it is in there somewhere in the music. It’s not on the surface, but the morality is underlying the music I should imagine. And what the Western world sees of Islam is radical Islam and nuts like Al Qaeda, who as far as I’m concerned are so far outside of and beyond Islam. Islam is supposed to be about balance, generosity, and mercy; violence is really supposed to be the absolute last resort. Islam means peace for heaven’s sake, so let’s have some, please.
Drift: You’ve won scores of awards over the course of your career. Do any stand out more than others?
RT: Well last year I got an OBE from the Queen of England, which is about two degrees below knighthood on the pecking order but fantastic all the same. I also received a doctorate from Aberdeen University, so call me Dr. Thompson. That sounds good.
Drift: For most of your career you recorded for major labels, but over the last decade you’ve been a devoted independent artist. Does that allow you more freedom?
RT: I get a lot more freedom to make the records that I want to make. There are no other opinions; I don’t have to listen to record execs justifying their jobs. The musical landscape has totally changed in the last 20 years, and record labels are irrelevant to most people now. Unless you’re Beyoncé or something, they don’t really serve a purpose, so I think it’s all about small, independent labels and marketing music in different ways. I mean, crikey, in another five years everything could be free anyway. We could see the end of the CD very soon.
Drift: For you, and for folk music as a whole, it seems like touring and the live performance has always been more important.
RT: I’ve always seen performing as the focus of what I do and recordings as an adjunct. I’m glad people come to concerts, because for me the greatest thrill is playing in front of an audience. I mentioned Beyonce rather flippantly, but she puts on a good show with the lights and the dancing and the music, making a whole tapestry of things that to some people is the pinnacle of entertainment. But I’m more in a field where it’s one person with a guitar — a much more intimate thing that still works I hope.
Drift: You toured through St. Augustine last year. Do you always get a good response in Florida?
RT: We usually have really good experiences in Florida, and I enjoyed the show in St. Augustine last year at the Gamble Rogers Festival. It was fantastic and really nice; that festival is all about stories, because Gamble was a great storyteller. I always enjoy St. Augustine as a place to visit as well.
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Richard Thompson Electric Trio performs with Sam Pacetti on Thursday, Feb. 2 at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, 1050 A1A North, Ponte Vedra Beach. Tickets range from $39.50 to $52.50 for reserved seating. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. For more info, go to www.PVConcertHall.com or call 209-0399.
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For free Richard Thompson audio downloads, click here.
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Picture: Richard Thompson. Photo: Ron Sleznak.
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