Richard Thompson 
Discussion List FAQ

The Musicians

What is Fairport Convention?
Who is Linda Thompson?
Who is Danny Thompson?
Who are French, Frith, Kaiser, & Thompson (FFK&T)?
Who were The Bunch?
Who were The GP's?
Who were The Home Service?
Who is Teddy Thompson?
Has RT ever performed live with Bob Dylan?
Who is Mitchell Fromm?
Who is Joe Boyd?
Who is Ed Haber?
Who is Nancy Covey?


What is Fairport Convention?

The band Fairport Convention was formed in London in 1967. The band members, at that time, included Ashley Hutchings, Simon Nicol, RT, Shawn Frater (soon replaced by Martin Lamble), Judy Dyble, and Iain Matthews. The band was named after a house owned by the Nicol family, called Fairport.

FC is generally considered the originator of folk-rock--that is, electrified music with rock influences that draws on traditional melodies, motifs, and instrumentation. When RT joined the band, the repertoire included covers of songs by North American singer-songwriters (notably Bob Dylan), as well as some originals. To gain some understanding of RT's early contributions to the band, he is given either full or partial songwriting credit for 5 of the 12 songs on Fairport Convention, recorded when he was still a teenager!

With the addition of Sandy Denny, the group began to perform traditional British folk songs such as "Tam Lin" and "She Moves Through The Fair."

There were many personnel changes in the early years of FC. Sandy Denny replaced Judy Dyble, Iain Matthews quit to pursue a solo career, Ashley Hutchings departed to form Steeleye Span, Sandy Denny later formed the band Fotheringay, Dave Swarbrick was added to play fiddle, Dave Mattacks joined to play drums, Dave Pegg came along to play bass. Other members over the years included Trevor Lucas, Bruce Rowland, Jerry Donahue, Ric Sanders, and Martin Allcock.

Although FC is best known for launching the careers of RT and Denny, they were only with the band for a few early years. RT departed from the group in 1971 after contributing to the following recordings: Fairport Convention, What We Did On Our Holidays, Unhalfbricking, Liege And Lief, and Full House.

FC continued on after RT left the group, and the current lineup which has just changed comprises Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Chris Leslie, and Ric Sanders. They are today still touring, releasing albums, and hosting the yearly reunion at Cropredy. The Festival started in the early 1980s involving the current and ex members of FC and held each August. RT has performed at many of these annual outdoor festivals.

The Festival is held in the small village of Cropredy, North Oxfordshire, England. This village was the site of the Cropredy Bridge battle, which occurred on June 29, 1644. At this battle, the Royalists defeated the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller.

The Cropredy Festival provides a great opportunity for RT and Fairport Discussion List members to meet, face to face, and list meetings are organized and occur there each year.

For information on the festival and other Cropredy related items, such as Cropredy-related CD's, write to Woodworm Records, PO Box 37, Banbury, Oxon., OX16 8YN, UK.

For more information, check out the band's web site Expletive delighted!

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Who is Linda Thompson?

Some facts gleaned from various interviews with Linda Thompson:

Linda Peters grew up in Glasgow, Scotland. Linda's mother was a vaudeville performer whose performing name was Vera Love, Specialty Dancer. Linda never really had any formal musical training. She was singing in small folk clubs, doing some session work, and recording jingles around the time that she met the members of FC in 1969 - 1970.

RT was still in FC when he and Linda met. She later sang back-up vocals on Henry the Human Fly and was part of the group that recorded as "The Bunch." Richard and Linda were married in 1972.

As previously mentioned, LT recorded six albums with RT and performed with him at many concerts. She shares songwriting credits with him on two songs: "Pavanne" from First Light and "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed" from Shoot Out The Lights.

Following the divorce, LT worked at the British National Theatre and recorded one solo album, titled One Clear Moment. This recording has since been deleted. A follow-up project, recorded in Nashville, TN, was never released. This recording included such musicians as James Burton, Bruce Hornsby, Jennifer Warnes, and Jim Keltner. Evidently, LT was not satisfied with her vocals recorded during this project. This album would have included a number of LT original compositions, as well as songs written by Cheryl Wheeler, Sandy Denny, and Lucinda Williams.

A 1985 demo of Linda singing "Her Father Was A Sailor" can be heard on Circle Dance: The Hokey Pokey Charity Compilation. You can also hear Linda singing a duet with Richard on the mysterious track number 13 of The World Is A Wonderful Place: The Songs Of Richard Thompson.

The autumn 1992 issue of HP features an interview with LT. At that time she was living in London and selling antique jewelry in Bond Street.

Longtime Thompson associate Ed Haber was involved in the production of the Linda Thompson retrospective, titled ‘Dreams Fly Away’. This CD was released in July, 1996. Since the release of the CD, LT has done a number of interviews, both on the radio and in print. She appeared on the cover of the July issue of Folk Roots magazine.

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Who is Danny Thompson?

Danny Thompson...where to begin!

Danny (no relation to Richard) Thompson was born in London in April 1939. Danny has had a varied and quite remarkable career as a bass player thus far. By the age of 17, he had played in skiffle bands, strip clubs, and traditional jazz groups. He mentions the blues, and particularly Big Bill Broonzy, as early musical influences.

At the age of 18, Danny was playing with the great English jazz tenor saxophonist Tubby Hayes before he moved on in 1964 to join Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated where he worked with drummer Terry Cox, which lead to the founding of the important British band Pentangle.

Other musicial associations include work with John Martyn, Nick Drake, Little Walter, Josh White, Donovan, and even Cliff Richard among others. His records Whatever and Whatever Next can be found on the Hannibal label.

Danny has always been an active session musician, and you can hear his double-bass, named "Victoria," on many albums, from Indigo Girls to Everything But The Girl.

Since 1993, he has toured extensively with RT, in both acoustic and band tours.

In addition to all that, has has also started a British jazz label, titled "The Jazz Label," formed an organization called "The Fellowship Of British Jazz Musicians," and continues to serve as compere at the Cropredy Festival. The man can also sing one mean sea chantey!

During 1997 Danny’s health suffered from complications following an operation, which kept him off stage for some months and he was forced to miss his Cropredy festival MC duties in August. Everyone was pleased that he was recovered and able to play again with Richard as a guest during Richard’s winter tour in January 1998. At time of writing Danny has just finished a tour with Loretta McKennit.

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Who are French, Frith, Kaiser, & Thompson (FFK&T)?

FFK&T are John French, Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser, and Richard Thompson. Together, these musicians have recorded two albums: Live, Love, Larf & Loaf and Invisible Means.

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Who were The Bunch?

The Bunch included Sandy Denny, RT, Ashley "Tyger" Hutchings, Pat Donaldson, Dave Mattacks, Dundee Horns, Gerry Conway, Ian Whiteman, Trevor Lucas, Linda Peters, and Tony Cox. This group of musicians recorded one album together, titled Rock On, now difficult to obtain.

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Who were The GP's?

RT was once involved in a band that included Ralph McTell, Dave Mattacks, and Dave Pegg. They called themselves The GP's (The Grazed Pontiffs). A live recording was made on August 14, 1981, at Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire, England, and released some 10 years later as Saturday Rolling Around.

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Who were The Home Service?

The nucleus of this band came from the Albion Band in 1980. The original group consisted of nine members, and it has included, at various times over the years, Bill Caddick, Howard Evans, Malcolm Bennett, Mike Gregory, John Tams, Graeme Taylor, Roger Williams, Jon David, Steve King, John Kirkpatrick, Alan Dunn, Andy Findon, Pete Murray, Phil Pickett and Ralph Salmins.

Their first (self-titled) album has recently been released on CD by Road Goes On Forever Records (P.O. Box 12, Barnet, Herts, EN4 8PT, England.) The CD re-release is titled Early Transmissions, and it also includes their first single, released in 1981, titled "Doing the Inglish."

Fledg'ling Records (P.O. Box 547, London, SE26 4BD, England) has re-released on CD Alright Jack, which was originally released in 1985, and a live recording of two 1992 reunion concerts recorded in London and Sidmouth, titled Wild Life.

The Home Service's album titled The Mysteries, which featured Linda Thompson on lead vocals on a number of songs, has yet to be released on CD.

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Who is Teddy Thompson?

Teddy Thompson is the son of Richard and Linda. He is also a musician, a guitarist and singer, and he toured with Richard on Richard’s winter 1998 UK tour and is expected to accompany RT during his US tour later in 1998.

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Has RT ever performed live with Bob Dylan?

Yes, on October 17, 1991, at the Auditorio de la Cartuja, Seville, Spain. At this "Guitar Greats Festival," RT played electric and acoustic guitars. He accompanied Dylan on electric guitar (along with the Jack Bruce Band) on "All Along the Watchtower," and on acoustic guitar on "Boots of Spanish Leather," "Across The Borderline," and "Answer Me." RT also participated in the all-star jam on "Shake, Rattle And Roll," and "I Can't Turn You Loose."

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Who is Mitchell Fromm?

Mitchell Froom is a musician and record producer. To date, he has produced five of RT's recordings: Daring Adventures, Amnesia, Rumor And Sigh, Mirror Blue and You Me Us.

He has also produced albums for Suzanne Vega, Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos, Elvis Costello, Crowded House, and American Music Club, among others.

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Who is Joe Boyd?

Joe Boyd has been associated with an impressive list of musicians throughout his career. Boyd produced albums by FC, Martin Carthy, The Incredible String Band, Shirley & Dolly Collins, Nick Drake, the McGarrigles, Toots and the Maytals, Maria Muldaur, 10,000 Maniacs, R.E.M., Pink Floyd, and RT, among others!

Boyd produced the following RT albums: Shoot Out The Lights, Hand Of Kindness, Across A Crowded Room, and recently Bones Of All Men. He was the executive producer of LT's CD, titled Dreams Fly Away.

His early production work was significant to the development of British folk-rock. Since those early projects, he has remained involved in the music industry through continued production work and involvement with Hannibal Records.

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Who is Ed Haber?

Ed Haber is a longtime R&LT associate. He has been involved, over the years, with the production of the RT newsletter/mailing list, Flypaper, he assisted, along with Frank Kornelussen and Ilana Pelzig, with the production and distribution of the two Doom and Gloom From The Tomb compilation cassettes, he produced RT's CD boxed set, Watching The Dark, and most recently produced, along with Joe Boyd, LT's music career retrospective CD, Dreams Fly Away.

While a DJ at WBAI-FM in New York City, Ed conducted a number of interviews with RT which were broadcast on the radio. Notable among these are the "Hotel Room" interview conducted in NYC (during the '82 R&LT US tour), with RT and Simon Nicol, and the "Coffee Shop" interview, conducted with RT during the Big Band tour of '83.

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Who is Nancy Covey?

Nancy Covey is RT's wife. Nancy Covey's company is Festival Tours, based in California, and provides assistance with travel and tour arrangements. Festival Tours has organized and offered tours to the UK for the Cropredy Festival in the past. At the time of the writing of this FAQ, Festival Tours could be reached by calling the following telephone number: (818) 346-5146. There is also some information on Dee's web site

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