This is Fresh Air, I'm Terry Gross.

My guest is Richard Thompson, who's been a guest several times on her show because his

music is so great.

He stands out for the originality and the darkness of his songwriting, singing and guitar

playing.

He's been an influence on many performers and the songs have been covered by people like

Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, and R.E.M.

In 1967, he co-founded the British Group Fairport Convention, which created a new genre,

a hybrid of traditional folk music of the British Isles and rock.

The group performed traditional songs and originals, and many of those originals were

written by Thompson.

Sandy Denny was the lead singer.

Thompson had no faith in his own voice as a singer, and only started singing on stage

after leaving the band in 1971 and going solo.

In 1973, he formed a group with his girlfriend, then wife Linda Thompson.

They sang duets, sometimes with Linda, sometimes with Richard singing lead.

Their last album together was in 1982, then the band and the marriage split up.

It's hard for me to imagine a time when he wasn't a singer because his voice is so sure

and strong and able to express the emotions in the surprising dark melodic and lyrical

turns of his songs.

Thompson's memoir Bees Wing, losing my way in finding my voice 1967 to 1975, has just

been published in paperback.

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