Tom Throws

Sunday evening in Albany, NY, Richard Thompson gave a concert that was nothing short of brilliant and made even more so by the perfect foil, songwriter Loudon Wainwright, III.

Thompson immediately set the hard driving tone of his performance and continued to raise the bar throughout: both in song selection and with masterful soloing. RIchard Thompson is a guitar player. I’ve always thought of him as a great songwriter but never having seen him live, was unaware of just how good he is at playing great melodic solos.

Thompson plays in a style that utilizes the flatpick and two fingers (presumably the middle and ring but from where I was sitting I couldn’t tell) and does so to great expressive effect. He is more than a pattern picker when it comes to finger picking too, as he demonstrated on one of his most covered songs, ‘1952 Vincent Black Lightning’.

If you’ve not seen Richard Thompson do yourself the great good favor of taking in one of his shows. Keep your eyes peeled for Richard Thompson’s next Albany appearance. He seems to play the Egg about once a year.

Yours in tunefulness,

Tom Throws