Who is Richard Thompson?
Some facts gleaned from various radio and print interviews: Richard John Thompson was born on April 3, 1949, in London, England. He grew up in a family with widely varied musical tastes. His Scottish father, a policeman, played dance band guitar, and his great-uncles performed in a Scottish country and jazz dance band. RT has mentioned childhood memories of hearing his father’s records of Les Paul, Django Reinhardt, and other guitar virtuosos. He had a guitar by the age of 10. After a few years of classical guitar lessons, he started playing in a series of “cover” bands. RT has mentioned his sister, five years his elder, as an important musical influence. Specifically, he mentions hearing rock and roll music (Buddy Holly and Gene Vincent, among others) played at home from her record collection, as well as the opportunities he had to learn guitar chords from her boyfriends while they waited for her to get ready for dates. While in the cover bands, RT played guitar-heavy songs by the lik
