Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips - Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY, 8-30-2022

What has British singer-songwriter Richard Thompson been up to lately (as I write this in February 2023)? Unfortunately, he hasn't put out any new albums since the start of the Covid pandemic. However, he has put out two generous EPs, which would make up a nice album. Plus, he's back doing concerts, and he sings and plays just as great as ever. For some reason, this concert from August 2022 was broadcast live on the Internet. It was professionally recorded, and it sounds great, so I figured it's worth sharing here.

I took this from a large video file, and broke it up into individual mp3s. There were no problems. I cut out a little bit of dead air between songs, mostly guitar tuning, but not much. Oh, also, Thompson has developed an annoying habit in recent years of coughing a lot between songs. This concert wasn't so bad compared to what I expected, so maybe he's getting better. But still, I edited out nearly all the coughing.

In recent years, Thompson has been romantically involved with musician Zara Phillips. This is a solo acoustic concert, except Phillips joined in on backing vocals for the second half of the concert. Since she was only there for half of the concert, and didn't say a word between songs, I credited this album to "Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips" rather than "Richard Thompson & Zara Phillips."

This concert left me even more impressed with Thompson's talent. As I write this, he's 73 years old, but he sure as hell doesn't sound like it. He's perfected a technique of playing solo parts while keeping the rhythm going, making it sound like there are two guitars playing at once. But it's all just him. Also, his songwriting is still at a high level. He played a nice mix of older classics and new songs from his recent EPs, plus one song, "Singapore Sadie," that hasn't been released yet.

This concert is an hour and 35 minutes long.

01 talk (Richard Thompson)
02 Gethsemane (Richard Thompson)
03 talk (Richard Thompson)
04 If I Could Live My Life Again (Richard Thompson)
05 talk (Richard Thompson)
06 Genesis Hall (Richard Thompson)
07 talk (Richard Thompson)
08 Turning of the Tide (Richard Thompson)
09 talk (Richard Thompson)
10 Persuasion (Richard Thompson)
11 talk (Richard Thompson)
12 Johnny's Far Away (Richard Thompson)
13 talk (Richard Thompson)
14 She Moves through the Fair (Richard Thompson)
15 talk (Richard Thompson)
16 Walking the Long Miles Home (Richard Thompson)
17 talk (Richard Thompson)
18 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson)
19 talk (Richard Thompson)
20 Who Knows Where the Time Goes (Richard Thompson)
21 talk (Richard Thompson)
22 Wall of Death (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
23 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
24 Singapore Sadie (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
25 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
26 Word Unspoken, Sight Unseen (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
31 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
32 The Rattle Within (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
33 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
34 Keep Your Distance (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
35 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
36 She Never Could Resist a Winding Road (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
37 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
38 I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
39 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
40 Walking on a Wire (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
41 talk (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
42 The Tinker's Rhapsody (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)
43 She Was Lost in the Crowd (Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips)

https://www.imagenetz.de/fVPub

The cover photo is a screenshot taken from the video footage for this concert. However, Thompson and Phillips were a bit father away from each other, but I moved them closer using Photoshop.