1970s: Richard and Linda Thompson By the 1970s, Thompson had begun a relationship with the singer
Linda Peters, who had sung on
Henry the Human Fly. In October 1972 the couple were married at
Hampstead Town Hall and honeymooned in
Corsica. Thompson, with Linda now effectively his front woman, regrouped for his next album and the next phase of his career. The first Richard and
Linda Thompson album,
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, was recorded in May 1973 in short time and on a small budget. Largely because of the petrol shortage in Britain and its impact on the availability of vinyl for records,
Bright Lights was held back by
Island Records for nearly a year before being released in April 1974. The album was well received by critics, though sales were less than stellar. 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. The Thompsons, now a couple for professional purposes only, toured the United States in support of the album, their only American tour together. Both the album and their live shows were well received by the American media, Upon returning home, Richard and Linda went their separate ways. 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 finalized, Richard Thompson began to commute between twin bases in London and Los Angeles and 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 US 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 signed with
PolyGram and received a sizeable advance. He and Nancy Covey married at an alcohol-free wedding that included a who's who of roots-music performers who Covey knew well from McCabe's and the Los Angeles music scene, and had introduced to Thompson. After their wedding, Thompson moved his home and working base to California. As part of the settlement that allowed Thompson to leave Boyd's Hannibal label for Polygram, the live album
Small Town Romance was released. This comprised recordings made during Thompson's solo shows in the US in late 1981 and early 1982.
Across a Crowded Room (1985) was his last album to be recorded in England and the last to have
Boyd as producer. Thompson put together a new look backing band for the tour to promote this album, and some shows were filmed for a live video release (see
Richard Thompson discography). 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. In 1985, Fairport Convention reformed and recorded the album ''
Gladys' Leap''. Thompson did not rejoin Fairport, but he did contribute a song to the project and played guitar on another track on the album. 1988 saw the release of Thompson's first album for Capitol,
Amnesia. Froom was retained as producer, and once again the album was recorded in Los Angeles with many of the same players that Froom had called upon for the
Daring Adventures sessions.
1990s Thompson contributed music to
BBC Northwest's documentary
Hard Cash and appears on the eponymous accompanying album issued by
Topic. A track from the album,
Time To Ring Some Changes is included in the 2009 Topic Records 70-year anniversary boxed set
Three Score and Ten as track thirteen on the sixth CD. Thompson appears on
Willie Nile's 1991
Places I Have Never Been album. In 1991, Thompson recorded
Rumor and Sigh, his second album for Capitol. Once again Froom produced. This album, particularly the acoustic guitar ballad "
1952 Vincent Black Lightning", was hailed by critics and fans alike and greatly advanced Thompson's reputation as a leading traditional-style guitarist.
Rumor and Sigh was nominated for a
Grammy and sold well. 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. Thompson was awarded the
Orville H. Gibson Award for best acoustic guitar player in 1997. In 1992, he performed with
David Byrne. Their joint acoustic concert at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity in
Brooklyn Heights, New York on 24 March, produced the album
An Acoustic Evening, which was released the same year.
Mirror Blue was released in 1994, to often negative reviews sparked by the production decisions that Thompson and Froom took. Thompson took to the road to promote the album. 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 line-up toured with Thompson the following two years. 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 limited-quantity, live recorded, not-for-retail albums. The first of these was
Live at Crawley, released in 1995. In 1994 the tribute album
Beat the Retreat was issued, with Thompson's songs performed by such artists as
R.E.M.,
June Tabor and
David Byrne.
2000s , 2006 In 2001, Thompson declined the option to renew his contract with Capitol. Thompson appeared on his ex-wife Linda's studio album
Fashionably Late on the song "Dear Mary". It was the first time the two had recorded together since
Shoot Out the Lights. 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. The move away from big labels and big budgets paradoxically 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 US,
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. Thompson continued releasing "official bootlegs" on his boutique label as an additional source of revenue – all live recordings.
2010s , 2018 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. On 10 June 2010, Thompson was awarded the
Mojo Les Paul Award for "Guitar Legend". Thompson curated the 2010
Meltdown Festival at London's South Bank Centre. The festival included a tribute to the recently deceased
Kate McGarrigle, a feature of which was a rare reunion of Richard and Linda Thompson. He was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to music. In early 2013, Thompson released
Electric, recorded in Nashville with
Buddy Miller producing. The record enjoyed good reviews and debuted in the UK top 20. Thompson took to the road with a stripped-down "
power trio" band on a multi-month tour on both sides of the Atlantic to promote the new album. Also that year Thompson appeared on his ex-wife Linda's fourth studio album ''Won't Be Long Now'', on the track "Love's for Babies and Fools". It was the second time the two have recorded together since
Shoot Out the Lights. In 2014, Thompson released
Acoustic Classics, an album featuring acoustic renditions of 14 songs from his back catalogue, on his Beeswing label. The record reached number 16 on the
UK Albums Chart. Thompson appears alongside family members, both blood related and by marriage, on the album
Family (2014) by Thompson (the band being named for all the Thompsons that appear), performing two songs solo and contributing to others as well. The album was produced by son Teddy Thompson and features ex-wife Linda Thompson,
The Rails who are Thompson's daughter
Kami Thompson and her husband James Walbourne, as well as other related musicians, including Walbourne's brother and Richard Thompson's son from his second marriage. Thompson released
Still in June 2015, an album produced by
Jeff Tweedy of
Wilco and recorded in Tweedy's The Loft Studio. The album reached number 10 in the UK Album chart, his first album to reach the UK top 10. 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. This was followed, in 2017, by a second acoustic album
Acoustic Classics II which reached number 24 on the
UK Albums Chart. 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. Thompson's eighteenth studio album,
13 Rivers, was released on 14 September 2018. It was written after a period of difficulty for Thompson's family with songs that stick "close to a vision of darkness, gloom, and noise". Thompson produced the record himself at
Boulevard Recording in Los Angeles. On 30 September 2019 Thompson played at the
Royal Albert Hall to celebrate his 70th birthday.
2020s In 2021 his book
Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice, 1967–1975 was published by
Algonquin Books, mainly a memoir of his life as a musician from 1967 to 1975. The
Los Angeles Review of Books called it an "absorbing, witty, often deliciously biting read, as all rock memoirs should be". Thompson performed on the acoustic stage of the
Glastonbury Festival in June 2023. Reviewing the set for
The Guardian, Keza MacDonald said, "It's just him and a beautiful, bright-sounding acoustic guitar. He plays so well that you can't take your eyes off his picking hand, as you try to figure out how he's making the sound of three guitars come out of one. He is one of the most stunningly gifted guitarists you'll ever see live, and his dextrously fingerpicked mid-song diversions prompt claps and whoops from a crowd that is otherwise quietly reverent." In January 2024 Thompson announced a band tour of the U.S. and U.K., with the British leg culminating in a date at London's
Royal Albert Hall on 8 June.
Ship to Shore was released that May. Reviewing the concert at the
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall for
The Times, Peter Ross awarded the gig four stars and said, "There were flashes of brilliance, however. "
Guns Are the Tongues", with
Hobbs on mandolin, built over seven minutes to an ecstatic darkness. "
Dimming of the Day" had a gentle grace. Best of all was "
Beeswing", which Thompson performed alone, fingerpicking an acoustic. Intricate and soulful, it's a song in which his technical ability and poetic voice are held in balance. The brief silence that followed said more than any applause could; we knew we'd heard something exquisite." The final night, at the Royal Albert Hall, featured guest artists including
Ralph McTell,
James Walbourne,
Kami Thompson,
Linda Thompson,
Squeeze,
Danny Thompson and
Crowded House. On 9 August Thompson headlined the second night of the annual Cropredy Festival. In 2020 the 1969 album
Dudu Phukwana and the "Spears", the debut album by South African saxophonist
Dudu Pukwana and his band, produced by
Joe Boyd, was remastered and reissued by
Matsuli Music as a double-LP set with nine previously unissued tracks that were recorded in 1969, and which feature a number of guest artists such as Thompson and
Simon Nicol. In October 2023 Thompson released the instrumental "Lament For Mariupol" as part of the charity compilation album
Heal the Sky which aimed to raise funds to help children who were victims of the war in Ukraine. On 7 July 2024 Thompson was the guest of
Michael Berkeley for his BBC Radio 3 programme
Private Passions, where his choices included
Beethoven,
Purcell,
Britten and
Manuel de Falla. In June 2025 Thompson was forced to withdraw from performing at the
Gate To Southwell Festival after falling and breaking three ribs.
Side projects and collaborations In between leaving
Fairport Convention in early 1971 and releasing his debut solo album in 1972, he undertook a large amount of
session work, most notably on albums by
John Martyn,
Al Stewart,
Matthews Southern Comfort,
Sandy Denny,
Mike Heron and
Nick Drake. During the same period, he also worked on two collaborative projects.
Morris On was recorded with
Ashley Hutchings,
John Kirkpatrick,
Dave Mattacks and Barry Dransfield, and was a collection of English traditional tunes arranged for electric instruments.
The Bunch were almost the reverse conceptually – a grouping of English
folk rock musicians (including
Sandy Denny,
Linda Peters and members of
Fairport Convention) recording a selection of classic
rock and roll tunes. Thompson has continued to guest on albums by an array of artists, from
Crowded House,
Bonnie Raitt and
Vivian Stanshall, to
Norma Waterson and
BeauSoleil and folk artists like
Loudon Wainwright III,
Cathal McConnell (of
The Boys of the Lough) and
Bob Davenport. He has also performed and recorded with
Teddy Thompson, his son from his marriage to
Linda Thompson. at Cropredy, 2005 Since the early 1980s, Thompson has appeared at
Fairport Convention's annual
Cropredy Festival, both in his own right and as a participant in sets with current and former Fairport members. These sets are seldom confined to performances of songs out of the Thompson or Fairport Convention canons, and in recent years some surprise offerings have included the soul classic "
I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (with Thompson backed by the
Roy Wood Big Band),
The Beatles' "
I'm Down" and even "
The Lady Is a Tramp". Thompson has displayed a penchant for the
avant garde as well, working with former
Pere Ubu singer
David Thomas's grouping The Pedestrians on two albums in 1981 and 1982, respectively. In the 1980s, he was associated with a loose-fitting group called
The Golden Palominos, who were led by drummer
Anton Fier and included at times on stage and on record
Jack Bruce,
Michael Stipe,
Carla Bley,
John Lydon,
Bill Laswell and others. He has worked with experimental guitarist
Henry Kaiser, most notably as part of the ad hoc grouping
French Frith Kaiser Thompson with whom he recorded two albums. In 1997 he worked with long-time friend and band member
Danny Thompson to record a
concept album Industry that dealt with the decline of British industry. A year later he worked with
early music expert
Philip Pickett on the acclaimed
Bones of All Men which fused
renaissance tunes with contemporary music. For several years Thompson devised and toured his show
1000 Years of Popular Music. The inspiration for this came when
Playboy asked Thompson (and many other music industry figures) in 1999 for their suggestions for the "top ten songs of the millennium". Guessing that
Playboy expected most people's lists to start at around 1950, Thompson took the magazine at its word and presented a list of songs from the 11th century to the present day. Perhaps not surprisingly,
Playboy did not use his list, but the exercise gave him the idea for a show which takes a chronological trip through popular music across the ages. Thompson acknowledges that this is an ambitious undertaking, partly because he reckons that he is technically unqualified to sing 98% of the material, and partly because of the sparse musical setting he restricts himself to: besides his acoustic guitar, he's backed by singer/pianist
Judith Owen and percussionist/singer
Debra Dobkin. A typical performance would start with a medieval round, progress via a
Purcell aria, Victorian
music hall and
Hoagy Carmichael and end with Thompson's take on the
Britney Spears hit "
Oops!... I Did It Again". In 2004 Thompson was asked to create the soundtrack music for the
Werner Herzog documentary
Grizzly Man. The score, which was recorded over a two-day period in December 2004, brought Thompson together with a group of improvisational musicians, mostly from the
San Francisco Bay area; video footage from the sessions was edited into a mini-documentary,
In the Edges, which was included with the DVD release of
Grizzly Man. 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. In 2006 and 2013, Thompson recorded
Hugh S. Roberton's "
Mingulay Boat Song" and the traditional "General Taylor" for the
sea shanty-compilations ''
Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys and Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys''. In July 2019,
New West Records released a soundtrack album for the documentary
The Cold Blue, featuring the film's original score composed by Thompson. The film, directed by
Erik Nelson, focuses on the
Eighth Air Force. It uses footage taken by director
William Wyler for his 1944 documentary
Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress. ==Retrospectives and tributes==