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Richard Thompson with Special Guest Kerri Powers with Kerri Powers

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“The Finest rock songwriter after Dylan and the best electric guitarist since Hendrix.” — LA Times

“A folksinger who shreds like an arena-rock star… and still writes songs that sting and storm.”  – NPR

Named by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the Top 20 Guitarists of All Time, Richard Thompson is also one of the world’s most critically acclaimed and prolific songwriters. He has received Lifetime Achievement Awards for Songwriting on both sides of the Atlantic- from the  Americana’s in Nashville to Britain’s BBC Awards and  the prestigious Ivor Novellos. In 2011 Thompson was the recipient of the OBE (Order of the British Empire) personally bestowed upon him by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. Most recently he was nominated for “Artist of the Year” by the Americana Music Honors & Awards.

Richard Thompson

Connect with this artist:

www.richardthompson-music.com

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Artist Bio

“To be moving is better than to be standing still,” Richard Thompson says, and Richard
Thompson should know. The influential singer-songwriter and virtuosic guitarist has
been on a singular musical journey for over a half century, from his days in the ‘60s as a
pioneer of British folk rock with Fairport Convention, to his seminal ‘70s duo work with
Linda Thompson, to the exploratory, deeply emotional music of the solo career that has
been his primary concern ever since.

Along the way he has been touted as one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time by
Rolling Stone, covered by everyone from Robert Plant, R.E.M. and David Byrne to
Sleater-Kinney, Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris, bestowed with the Ivor Novello
Award for songwriting, and even appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

And much like a ship to shore himself, the artist was instinctively drawn to his own
musical roots, employing them in the service of fashioning a deep and diverse 12-track
collection that pulls from various styles, genres and eras, but remains unmistakably
Richard Thompson. “I liked the idea of having a strong base to work from and reaching
out from there,” he says. “And I think of my base as being British traditional music, but
there’s also Scottish music, there’s Irish music. There’s jazz and country and classical. As
far as I’m concerned, once you establish your base you can reach out anywhere. It’ll still
be you ringing through, wherever you decide to go musically.”

As for where he started? Naturally, at the start. “Freeze,” the leadoff track on Ship To
Shore, is also the first of the new songs Thompson composed. And it’s classic RT, with a
bounding rhythm – “a strange cross between Celtic and African,” he says – punctuated
by nimble, curlicue guitar licks and dark (at times, darkly humorous) lyrics, in this case
of a man so paralyzed by his life that he can’t even bring himself to end it. Hesitating on
a ledge, Thompson sings, “A friendly breeze there might push you / Make up your
troubled mind for you.”

To craft Ship To Shore, Thompson retreated to Applehead Recording in Woodstock,
New York, where he was joined by his longtime band – guitarist Bobby Eichorn, bassist
Taras Prodaniuk, and drummer Michael Jerome – along with harmony vocalist Zara
Phillips, fiddle player David Mansfield, and Applehead engineer Chris Bittner. The team
worked quick – roughly a week to track, and another three or four days to mix – and
recordings were mostly live takes, vocals included. “There was a slight feeling of being
under the gun, which isn’t a bad thing,” Thompson says. “We spend a lot of time playing
together, so we can knock tracks off pretty quickly.”

And if you’re looking for some of that patented Thompson guitar dazzle? Look pretty
much anywhere on Ship To Shore. But maybe linger just a bit on “Maybe,” a sharp,
snappy ditty that sees our protagonist losing his mind over the girl of his dreams… or
nightmares. As the song reaches its fervid climax, Thompson’s guitar goes as haywire as
the poor guy’s brain, spitting hot licks, playful note bursts and madcap phrases across
the sonic spectrum. “That’s one that will be great to play live,” Thompson notes,
“because the possibilities are quite open. It'll be fun to just be improvising on that every
night.”

Finally, the album wraps with a sort of red herring: a countrified road-dog number titled
“We Roll,” which, on first listen, comes across as a farewell of sorts. “We thank you for
all your love down the years,” Thompson intones over a dusty rhythm. “We hope we
brought you some joy and some tears.”

Kerri Powers

Connect with this artist:

www.kerripowers.com

“Powers is something of an anomaly.  She’s like the music scene’s version of the protagonist in the film, “The Natural,” having spent the “prime of her career” out of the spotlight -- in her case, tending to her family -- only to return from absolutely nowhere to wow and amaze.  Where Robert Redford made all the fans sit up and cheer with mammoth home runs, Kerri Powers is going to make people listening to this album do the exact same thing with exceptional song writing and equally exceptional delivery.” -- Chip McCabe, Lonesome Noise

Kerri Powers was destined to be a musician from the start. While most kids her age spent their childhoods following frivolous pursuits, she spent hers reading, painting, writing stories, learning guitar and composing her first songs at the tender age of nine. By her own admission, she was a shy child, but her creative pursuits gave her an appreciation of the larger world around her. Those instincts seemed to have been bred naturally, given that there was undeniable talent embedded in her genes. Bing Crosby was a distant relative on her father’s side, while her mother’s relatives were said to be descended from author Herman Melville. Notably too, Powers’ paternal grandmother made her living by playing piano and providing musical accompaniment for silent films, making her a show business standby back in the day.

Not surprisingly then, Powers was encouraged to pursue her own creative ambitions while still in adolescence. Her mother, a talented visual artist in her own right, owned an extensive record collection, which gave Kerri her initial exposure to irrefutable icons like Bob Dylan, Neil Young and John Prine. “I would sit in a wicker rocking chair by the record player and sing along to the songs,” she recalls. “I remember hearing John Prine’s “Hello in There” for the first time and feeling that something magical was happening. It was a momentary yet memorable trip to a sad but hopeful place of lonely old faces.”

Powers started playing professionally in local coffeehouses throughout her native New England, and went on to release several well-received albums in the new millennium, culminating in Faith in the Shadows in 2009. Two of her songs were later featured on the Fox series “Rescue Me” starring Denis Leary. After taking time off to get married and raise her young son she returned to performing, counting among her credits the Boston Folk Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, and Telluride Bluegrass Festival, among other prestigious gatherings. She’s also toured Europe while opening for Canadian singer/songwriter Fred Eaglesmith in The Netherlands, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.

This flurry of activity recently culminated in a new self-titled album, her first effort in five years. With a track list that includes eight searing self-penned songs along with incisive covers of Janis Ian’s “Jesse,” and The Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody,” it ranks as Powers’ most accomplished collection to date. “The recording was a last minute decision,” she recalls. “The idea was to cut a couple of tracks simply to see how it would go.

The results – a sound that’s homespun, sparse and understated -- provide another ideal showcase for Powers’ intimate and expressive song writing, as well as her adroit ability to interpret the works of others.

Fully reenergized and excited about rebooting her career, Powers is looking forward to a return to touring both here and overseas. Clearly, the creative spark that was ignited so early on is fully fuelled once again.

- Lee Zimmerman

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