I've really enjoyed writing my "listen throughs" of different legacy artists: Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and Wilco and my readers (there are TENS of you out there!) like them too, so I am going with a new one this fall. There's also the fact that the school year has started and I am at a new job, so the brainspace I would use to come up with things to write about is pretty limited. It's better in these moments to go with a series.
I tend to listen to music seasonally. There are albums and artists I listen to heavily in some parts of the year and little in others. Richard Thompson has been in my autumn heavy rotation for a long time now, and now that he's come out with a new record I figured he was the perfect choice for this particular moment.
Beyond that, Thompson is interesting because he is one of those legacy artists with a large following and massive catalog who still records and plays yet is practically unknown to most people. I do not think I have ever heard a single song of his on Top 40, classic rock, or "oldies" radio. Freeform radio, community radio, or public radio? You betcha! There are plenty of artists beloved by the real heads and ignored by the public (Big Star, Townes Van Zandt, Captain Beefheart, etc.) but none with a catalog as extensive as Thompson's, which makes him ideal for my purposes. He's also one of those artists who has some of his stuff tied up in rights issues, but I happen to have all of those things on physical media, so I am in a unique position to complete the mission.
The first installment will be just about his years in Fairport Convention. After that I will have some fun with periodization.
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