Photo by Pamela Littky

British guitar god Richard Thompson may be in his 60s now, but he’s clearly one of the “it” kids of Americana at the moment.

While some artists might scoff at a rebirth after decades of gaining both critical success and legions of cult-like followers, the much-lauded singer/songwriter/ guitarist doesn’t radiate anything but modesty when discussing his newest accolade, a Lifetime Achievement Songwriting Award presented at the Americana Music Association Awards in Nashville this past September.

“It was really quite an honor,” says Thompson by telephone from his California home. “Americana is often thought of as American, but I understand its roots. The foundation of my music is the traditional music of Britain, and I add rock or blues or jazz to it. I’m still not really sure if I fit into the category, but I was quite flattered to receive the award.”

As he prepares to co-headline a tour with Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell in support of his 22nd solo album Electric, Thompson seems keenly aware that some of his ardent fans would prefer his sound stay rooted in 1969. That was the year his then-band Fairport Convention first played the Thompson-penned “Meet on the Ledge.” The song has become the unofficial anthem of the group, which generally plays it as an encore at most performances, including at the annual Cropredy Convention in England.

“I wrote it when I was 19,” says Thompson of that song, one of many fan-favorites he wrote as a founding member of Fairport. "It’s always interesting, as a singer/songwriter, to revisit your own work from any era. In some cases, you are playing it when you are 60, so you have to forgive yourself for being naïve, stupid or immature – for not crafting the song as well as you might today.
“Possibly you can tweak those things you don’t like about the song if the audience will let you,” he continues. “But you do have to realize some songs become public property and you have to be honored if that happens with one of yours and you should be willing to perform it. I don’t slavishly perform ‘Meet on the Ledge.’ I will play it a few times a year and I enjoy it each time I do.”

What Thompson seemingly enjoys most is weaving rock, blues, alt-country and other formats into the British base of his music so that most albums sound quite distinct. That’s part of the reason why he sought out Buddy Miller to produce Electric. The natural sound in Miller’s work is just what Thompson wanted to hear when he recorded the songs about aging and mortality using an electric, Americana rock format.

“The songs were written very closely together and, when you do that, there is a cohesiveness to them,” he says. “But there isn’t a theme. It is the time and place that hold them together. It’s another chapter in my life.”

Thompson insists the chapter reflects the reality of his life as a grounded, mature musician.

“I don’t want to be like The Rolling Stones, pretending to be a young star,” he says. "I wrote one song [ “Stony Ground” ] about an old man who still lusts after young women and seems quite foolish doing so. That’s something that doesn’t get written about very much. If I see a trend in this record, it is more about age and getting older. I am trying to write real songs about that."

For Thompson, one of the perks of aging is working with an array of A-list artists. Thompson speaks with deep respect about Miller and the guests on his album, particularly virtuoso fiddler Stuart Duncan.

But for all of his music cred, Thompson seems sincerely content to fly somewhat under the radar, certainly in the United States. “It is nice to be able to do both,” he says of playing major venues and smaller clubs. “Some people get too famous to step into a folk club before 50 people and get up and sing. I can still do that and it feels great.”