RICHARD THOMPSON SHOOTS OUT THE LIGHTS
There is a story circulating about Richard Thompson. The way I heard it, the Eagles approached him, prior to hiring Joe Walsh: they wanted Thompson in the band as lead guitarist. Living in obscurity in England, Thompson allegedly replied: "What? And spend the rest of my life working with a bunch of Southern Californians?"
NO BRIGHT ONES TONIGHT: RICHARD THOMPSON
SHOOTS OUT THE LIGHTS
by
Michael Goldberg
There is a story circulating about Richard Thompson. The way I heard it, the Eagles approached him, prior to hiring Joe Walsh: they wanted Thompson in the band as lead guitarist. Living in obscurity in England, Thompson allegedly replied: "What? And spend the rest of my life working with a bunch of Southern Californians?"
The world's greatest living rock 'n' roll guitarist was sitting in a rundown hotel room in San Francisco, looking more like a rumpled character out of a song by the Band, or from a John Steinbeck novel, than a rocker.
Richard Thompson is 33 years old and speaks with an English accent as thick as the head on a mug of English ale. He might have been a farmer from the turn of the century with his receding hairline, trimmed beard and moustache, green army pants, and pale blue cotton shirt. He screwed up his gaunt face into an exaggerated grin and stared down at the fake wood table between us. I had just mentioned that in many reviews, Thompson is favorably compared to Robbie Robertson.