Richard Thompson (musician) - Solo (1983 To Present)

Solo (1983 To Present)

After a stormy tour of the U.S., the Thompsons separated professionally. Richard Thompson continued recording as a solo artist. His 1983 album Hand Of Kindness saw him working with Boyd again, but with a revised backing band and a more extroverted and up-tempo song selection.

With his separation from Linda finalised, Richard Thompson began to commute between twin bases in London and Los Angeles and began 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 USA and Europe with the Richard Thompson Big Band, which included two saxophone players in addition to the more usual rhythm section, second guitar and accordion. Set lists included covers of classic rock 'n roll songs and jazz standards such as "Tuxedo Junction".

In 1985 Thompson returned to the big league when he signed with PolyGram and received a sizable advance. He also married Nancy Covey and moved his home and his working base to California.

1985's Across a Crowded Room was his last album to be recorded in England and the last to have Boyd as producer. After sales failed to match the critics’ praises Thompson was under some pressure to repay PolyGram’s investment with a hit album. In 1986 he released Daring Adventures, which was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Mitchell Froom. Daring Adventures, with a rich sound, markedly different production and use of American session players, was perceived by some as evidence of Thompson’s increasing "Americanisation". Perhaps more significantly, the album continued the trend, begun with Across 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 with Daring Adventures. Sales improved, but not substantially. Polygram declined an option to renew the contract. Thompson’s management negotiated a new deal with Capitol Records and Thompson released a string of albums between 1988 and 1996 with Froom in the producer's chair.

For a short while a late career commercial breakthrough seemed likely. The Grammy-nominated 1991 album Rumor And Sigh sold well and a single, "I Feel So Good", achieved some chart success. In fact, the song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" from Rumor and Sigh remains the most requested song on National Public Radio. 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 album Mirror Blue was held back for almost a year before being released, and the momentum that could have capitalised on the critical success and popularity enjoyed by Rumor And Sigh never followed.

Mirror Blue was released in 1994, and Thompson took a band on the road to promote the album. This backing band was the smallest that Thompson had yet assembled in his career. He was joined by drummer Dave Mattacks, Danny Thompson (no relation) on double bass, and Pete Zorn on acoustic guitar, backing vocals, mandolin and various wind instruments. This lineup toured with Thompson the following two years, and all subsequent Richard Thompson Band lineups have been built around Zorn and Danny Thompson.

Thompson continued recording for Capitol until 1999, when Mock Tudor was recorded and released. His deal with Capitol was modified so that he could release and directly market live, limited-quantity, not-for-retail albums. The first of these was Live at Crawley, released in 1995. These "authorised bootlegs" are well regarded by Thompson fans. In 2001 Thompson refused the option to renew a contract, and he parted ways with Capitol. Hereafter Thompson funded the recording of his own albums and distributed and marketed them by smaller independent labels.

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 on California and contributions from Billy Connolly, Bonnie Raitt, ex-wife Linda Thompson, Harry Shearer and Thompson's wife Nancy Covey. The programme was re-broadcast by BBC Four in September 2012.

The move away from big labels and big budgets brought a bigger marketing push and healthier sales. Thompson's first two self-funded releases, 2003's The Old Kit Bag and 2005’s Front Parlour Ballads, did well in the indie charts on both sides of the Atlantic. In May 2007 Thompson released Sweet Warrior. The album was licensed to different labels in different territories: Shout! Factory in the USA, P-Vine in Japan, Planet Records in Australia, and Proper Records in the UK and Europe). In August of the same year Island released a live Richard and Linda Thompson album, compiled from recordings made during the November 1975 tour to promote the Pour Down Like Silver album.

On 10 June 2010 Thompson was awarded the Mojo Les Paul Award for "Guitar Legend".

Richard and Linda Thompson performed a duet at the 12 June 2010 Meltdown Festival tribute concert to Kate McGarrigle, which Richard coordinated.

On 31 August 2010 Thompson released a new live album through Shout! Factory. The album, entitled Dream Attic, is composed of entirely new songs recorded live on tour with no studio overdubbing. 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). Dream Attic was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.