$28 in advance / $35 day of concert



Richard Thompson was born at his parents' home in the Spring of 1949, in West-London, and spent his early years in post war Britain, surrounded by a family with wide musical tastes. Counted among his early influences are Django Reinhardt, Fats Waller, Les Paul, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. Flip the coin from his father's jazz record collection to the early rock and roll music made available to him through his elder sister, including Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis, and the eclectic diversity of his multi-generational career becomes clear.

Many musicians peak by age 30, but not Richard Thompson. The recipient of BBC's Lifetime Achievement Award and 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 songwriters. Robert Plant, REM, Elvis Costello, Los Lobos, David Byrne, Del McCoury, Bonnie Raitt and many others have recorded his work. Yet this may be the most prolific period of Richard Thompson's astonishing career; his live-tour CD Dream Attic was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Contemporary Folk Album. In 2010 Thompson was curator at London's prestigious 2010 Meltdown Festival at South Bank Centre, and for his service to music - was named on the Queen's 2011 New Year Honours List as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

From his teenage years as a founding member of the pioneering British band Fairport Convention, through the enduring partnership of folk-rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson, to over 25 years as a solo artist - Richard Thompson's massive body of work includes 40 albums and numerous film soundtracks (including Werner Herzog's documentary Grizzly Man. Richard has earned many of the industry's most coveted awards including the Mojo Les Paul Award, the Orville H Gibson Award (guitar) and an Ivor Novello Award(songwriting). His genre-defying mastery of both acoustic and electric guitar, along with his dizzying energy and onstage wit continue to earn Richard Thompson generations of new fans and a place as one of the most distinctive and iconoclastic virtuosos in rock history.

What keeps him going?

"It's just a drive...you're driven to do it. If you're not driven, maybe you shouldn't bother. If you haven't written a song for a couple of weeks, you get itchy...you start twitching. You have to get it out there, whatever it is. I've been twitching for 40 years, which is great. It's wonderful to still be enthusiastic about what is basically one's employment, and to have been that way all the way through. I still guiltily look over my shoulder sometimes, thinking, 'This is too much fun.' "

"It's kind of like you're canoeing down a river and you want to see what is around the next bend. The future, the stuff you haven't created yet, is very exciting," Thompson said in a recent interview. "I think you have to be driven to sustain a musical career; there has to be something -- I don't know what it is and I'm not particularly interested in finding out -- it might be something horrible, maybe some demons in your closet or some social unbalance that drives you forward."

For four decades, Richard Thompson has consistently set songwriting and performance standards to which others aspire. He has long been acknowledged as both a sensitive writer and an innovative guitarist.

Find more info at: www.richardthompson-music.com

Liz Longley opens the show

Liz's open approach to songwriting across several genres is not only why her music defies classification, it is also why music lovers seem so taken with her performances---they get to enjoy a little Country, some Acoustic Pop, the Blues, and even some Jazz. Graduating from Berklee College of Music in 2010, Liz has received Berklee's highest honor for songwriting, the Scott Benson Scholarship. Her songs have faired well in Berklee's annual songwriting competitions: "Rush" was chosen as the No. 1 song in 2009, and "Whatever Goes Up" the No. 2 song the year before. An engaging performer, Liz was the student Berklee College of Music selected to represent the school at the 2009 Kennedy Center Conservatory Project in Washington, DC. Liz has been hailed by singer-songwriter Livingston Taylor as a "world-class singer" one of the best I've ever heard".

Find more info at: www.lizlongley.com