Beeswing: Fairport, Folk Rock and Finding My Voice, 1967–75

I own as many Richard Thompson vinyl LPs I can get my hands on and can afford (Sweet Warrior is currently listed on Amazon for $300!!) and have been doing so since 1983 when I purchased Shoot Out the Lights and fell in love. Over the years I have managed to build up a nice collection of Fairport Convention, Richard and Linda Thompson and solo lps that I am very proud of. I saw him perform several years ago and it remains one of the highlights of my concert going experiences. There is a sensibility, a consciousness and a sense goodhearted warmth I feel from his work and his storytelling abilities are that of a master. His memoir, Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice 1967-1975, is a beautiful and touching walk through Thompson's show more early years up through the time of his finding himself in the Sufi religion. The stories of the early years of Fairport Convention and the folk rock scene, the different, now legendary performers of that time from his bandmate Sandy Denny to the tragic Nick Drake, makes for enjoyable reading. At the same time, there were moments that strike you like any powerful moment in a Richard Thompson song. Now I need to go and listen again to the work. Maybe I will start with Liege & Lief and wonder across the decades of invention. show less

Richard Thompson started Fairport Convention with a group of other like-minded teenage musicians from around London. All were fascinated with American music but were well-versed in British traditional and folk music which they incorporated into their own style. This eventually inspired other musicians to from various countries and the UK to apply “the same contemporary approach to their own traditional cultures.”

Since then Thompson has played with various British groups and has had a long career as a solo act. He tells about much of it, as well as his quest for spiritualism and for meaning in his music. There’s also a bit of folly – Thompson doesn’t take himself too seriously. He tells a great story of being insulted for his show more long hair at a Detroit Airport coffee shop by a group of men he admired – Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, and then asking them all by name for their autographs. A great musical autobiography. show less

In this moving and immersive memoir, Richard Thompson, internationally beloved music legend, recreates the spirit of the 1960s, where he found, and then lost, and then found his way again. Known for his brilliant songwriting, his extraordinary guitar playing, and his haunting voice, Thompson is considered one of the top twenty guitarists of all time, in the songwriting pantheon alongside Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Randy Newman. Now, in his long-awaited memoir, the British folk musician takes us back to the late 1960s, a period of great change and creativity — both for him and for the world at large. Thompson packed more than a lifetime of experiences into his late teens and twenties. During the pivotal years of 1967 to 1975, just as show more he was discovering his passion for music, he formed the band Fairport Convention with some schoolmates and helped establish the genre of British folk rock. That led to a heady period of songwriting and massive tours, where Thompson was on the road both in the UK and the US, and where he crossed paths with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Jimi Hendrix. But those eight years were also marked by change, upheaval, and tragedy. Then, at the height of the band’s popularity, Thompson left to form a duo act with his wife Linda. And as he writes revealingly here, his discovery and ultimate embrace of Sufism dramatically reshaped his approach to music — and of course everything else. show less

Just a fantastic memoir. Wonderful on the era, the life, the process of becoming a serious musician and songwriter, etc.