CD Review: Richard Thompson’s Still

On his new album, Richard Thompson, one of the all-time folk greats, proves once again that he’s Still got it (sorry about that one, it was right there!).  He’s made a career as a road warrior; you probably won’t find the Bon Jovi tour rolling through Middletown, Ohio, or Grass Valley, Calif, but years of touring off the beaten path has earned Thompson a die-hard fan base.

He hasn’t had the familiar career of a music legend; as a teenager in the ’60s, he helped create folk-rock in Fairport Convention, and in the ’70s through early ’80s he released critically acclaimed albums with his wife Linda. But his best work came 20-plus after he separated from his wife and moved his operations to California, deciding to start over as a solo artist.

Still isn’t as guitar-heavy as 2013’s Electric, but any Thompson album is genius when it comes to sprinkling gems of guitar wisdom that reward repeat listening. It could be the leads alongside a chorus or a two-bar solo before a verse, but his playing is always fascinating (“Patty Don’t You Put Me Down” and “Long John Silver” stand out). Side note: To see some serious guitar wizardry, get to one of his electric shows.

While his more well-known English contemporaries like Page and Clapton became guitar gods by ripping through pentatonic scales, Thompson  created a style truly his own, using hybrid picking and drony down-tunings. His solos are intense, meandering affairs, full of off-notes that are cleverly resolved. “Pony In The Stable” perfectly mixes Celtic folk and electric guitar, and “Josephine” shows his masterful folk fingerpicking.

Still was produced by Wilco chieftain Jeff Tweedy and features Thompson’s longtime associates Michael Jerome and Taras Prodaniuk on drums and bass, respectively. It doesn’t seem like jumping aboard Team Tweedy yielded any big breakthroughs compared to past albums. But Thompson is a shrewd operator, and I suspect that Tweedy’s name recognition and the possible access to a whole generation of indie fans was a big factor.

Along with his fretwork, Thompson is known for his absorbing lyrics, the best of which remain squarely on the depressing side of the spectrum. “She Never Could Resist A Winding Road” tells of a love who got away and “No Peace No End” is an entirely bleak affair illustrating what it’s like to have nobody. “Where’s Your Heart” is a melancholy ballad that revisits the familiar Thompson theme of a love gone sour (“so strange to hear you/talk about love/is it just yourself/you’re enamored of?”).

The closing track, “Guitar Heroes,” shows that Thompson isn’t just a virtuoso alien as he imitates his biggest heroes, like Django Reinhardt and Les Paul. But the song ends with a solo of his own, and that may be the best moment of the entire album. He sings “I still don’t know how my heroes did it,” and this song shows us just how lucky we are; if he focused all his efforts on impersonation, he might have ended up just another guy learning Chuck Berry riffs in his basement.

Still is yet another engaging effort from an artist who has been able to steadily release interesting albums for decades while still sounding like himself. If you’re already a Thompson loyalist, you’ll not need much convincing to give this album a listen, but if not, start with this, then you’ve got almost 50 years to catch up on!

Still can be purchased here.