A living legend of folk-rock, Richard Thompson has been earning fans and rave reviews as a solo artist for more than 40 years – and well before that during his partnership with then-wife Linda Thompson and as lead guitarist in Fairport Convention. On his first album in six years, Ship to Shore, the singer/songwriter/guitar hero continues to fuse British folk reels and ballads with American rock and roll in his singular style.

You once said that when writing a new album, you keep “office hours” and compose new material from roughly 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Is that still the process?
I now work 7 a.m. to noon; if it’s going well, I’ll resume after lunch. That doesn’t mean I don’t have the antennae out the rest of the time.

Do you use different guitars, or stick to one or two?
I think different models have different songs in them – maybe something to do with the overtones. You know how you can find one chord that sounds good on a terrible guitar? So, it’s handy to have various instruments around, including some you’re less-familiar with.

As a player, you’ve always sounded unique. How did you avoid the Clapton/Beck/Hendrix clichés in the late ’60s?
At 14, I sounded just like the U.K. blues players. Then I realized it was an overcrowded scene and I tried to have different influences.

Your lead licks on “Maybe” and other cuts on the new album contain a lot of double-stops – sometimes they sound more like pedal-steel guitar. How did you develop that multiple-string bending style?
I had a pedal-steel compilation album – I think it was on Starday Records – and I loved the idea of using those licks on the guitar. Nothing unique about that; James Burton was doing the same thing a decade earlier and the B-Bender was a similar idea. That’s another thing that took me away from sounding like a U.K. bluesman.

“Trust” has a strong, but understated, guitar and rhythm groove. It simmers, without turning up the heat too high. How did that develop in the studio?
I wanted a Motown kind of groove with the lyrics coming over it at half-speed. The lyric can sound reflective, but you can still dance to it. It didn’t change much between the demo I sent to the band and the finished product.

The solo in “The Fear That Never Leaves” has a beguiling guitar lead that matches the lyrics very well. Can the abstraction of a solo support the narrative or intent of the lyrics?
It’s supposed to do that in all instances. A guitar solo is a story told by other means – an extension of the narrative.

“The Old Pack Mule” has a classic Richard Thompson solo – fingerstyle with heavy modulation. Which pedals did you use for that effect?
I think that was a Dunlop rotary-speaker pedal. They break a lot, so not something I would rely on out on the road, but they sound good.

Which other guitars and amps did you use?
There was a Strat in Coral Red finish, assembled by my tech, Bobby Eichorn. I have a black SG, gifted by Bobby, as well, various Lowden acoustics, and one old Martin that sounded not so good to the ear but recorded well.

I took my usual amps to the studio – Headstrongs and Fenders. But as is often the case, the ones lying around in the studio served better. There was an old Fender Princeton, a Vox AC15, and a Magnatone with the pitch-change vibrato.

You’ve lived in the U.S. for decades, but your music still beckons us to the British Isles. How do you maintain that cultural connection? Is it planted in your DNA?
I’m split between New Jersey and the UK. I’ve always felt culturally British, and a song landscape can be something you carry around inside you; it doesn’t get too affected by wherever you happen to find yourself. I liked the idea of having a strong base to work from and reaching out from there. 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 a young player, did you grow up on Bert Weedon guitar-tutorial books and Shadows records?
Exactly that! Everyone started on Bert’s Play In A Day, and you really could play something in a day. The Shads were a huge influence – I still play a Strat, for Pete’s sake. In fact, Shadows records still sound amazing. There were real drum and bass sounds, a fab guitar tone, and all that EMI technology that served the Beatles so well a few years later.

This article originally appeared in VG’s July 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.