Linda Thompson - Biography
By J Poet
Until her stunning return to form with Fashionably Late (2002 Rounder), Linda Thompson was best known for a series of albums she cut with then husband Richard Thompson in the mid-70s. One of England’s finest folk rock singers and an incredible songwriter, Thompson spent many years away from music due to a rare condition called hysterical dysphonia, which kept her from speaking and singing. Since her return, she’s been writing and recording with many of Britain’s finest young folk musicians, and despite the critical acclaim she’s received, still keeps a relatively low profile.
Linda Pettifer was born in London in 1948. Her mother was a professional singer, her father a television repairman. The family moved to Glasgow when Pettifer was six. She started singing folk music as a teenager, attracted by the deep emotion of the music. She changed her name to Linda Peters and sang as a duo with Paul McNeill in the late 60s, while studying modern languages at the University of London. They made a single of Dylan’s “You Ain't Going Nowhere” in 1967; it went nowhere.
Pettifer dropped out of school to pursue singing full time and soon met Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, John Martyn, John Renbourn, and producer Joe Boyd, who all played a part in England’s 60s folk boom. She sang at night and worked at an ad agency days, composing commercials with keyboard player Manfred Mann. Denny invited her to be part of a one-off folk supergroup called The Bunch that included Ashley Hutchings, Richard Thompson, and others. Rock On (A&M 1972, 1991 Hannibal) reimagined early rock hits as folk songs and her duet with Denny on “When Will I Be Loved” was one of the album’s highlights. Later that year, Linda sang back up on Denny’s Sandy (1972 A&M), Fairport’s Rosie (1972 Island UK, 1973 A&M US) and Richard Thompson’s debut Henry the Human Fly (1972 Reprise, 1991 Hannibal).
Linda, Richard and Simon Nicol toured as Hokey Pokey, and Richard and Linda married. Henry the Human Fly bombed on its release, although it’s now a folk rock touchstone, so Richard invited Linda to join him for I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974 Island, 1991 Hannibal.) The album, a wrenching examination of the dark side of human existence, was praised as a masterpiece for Richard’s songwriting and Linda’s heartrending vocals. Hokey Pokey (1975 Island, 1991 Hannibal) and Pour Down Like Silver (1974 Island, 1991 Hannibal) followed and received more stunning notices, although they did not sell well at the time. Linda’s anxiety about performing began to dominate the couple’s gigs. She was intimidated by her husband’s songwriting and afraid that Sandy Denny was a better singer. Meanwhile, Richard got interested in Islam and the couple became Sufis in 1975. Since Islam frowned upon music, the Thompson’s stopped performing.
After leaving the Sufi commune they lived on, the couple returned to music and made First Light (1978 Island, 1991 Hannibal), which had an American country slant, Sunnyvista (1979 Island, 1991 Hannibal) a remarkably up tempo and lighthearted collection and Shoot Out the Lights (1982 Island, 1991 Hannibal) another dark collection recorded while the couple was going through a painful divorce. Shoot Out the Lights did better in the US than England, and led to a tour of the states that was painful for all concerned. The Thompsons were not speaking, except on stage, but the performances were hailed for their emotional power. Rolling Stone put Shoot Out the Lights on its list of he 500 greatest albums of all time.
Linda married Steve Kenis after her divorce and cut One Clear Moment (1985 Warner, 2003 Rhino) which recast her as an introspective pop singer. One of the album’s tracks, “Telling Me Lies,” was nominated for a Grammy in 1988 when it was covered by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris on Trio (1987 Warner.) By 1986 Thompson’s hysterical dysphonia was so bad she could barely speak. She gave up her career, although she continued writing songs.
In 1999 David Thomas of Pere Ubu asked Thompson to sing in Mirror Man, a musical he was producing in London. She did and with the help of her son Teddy, started writing songs again, and doing selected dates. Teddy lined up England’s folk rock royalty including Dave Mattacks, Dave Pegg, and his father Richard Thompson to play, but when word got out Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Van Dyke Parks, Richard Greene, Kate Rusby, and Eliza and Martin Carthy asked to be included. Fashionably Late (2002 Rounder) was a triumph. The album opens with “Dear Mary,” a melancholy tale of relationships gone wrong that sketches the story with broad emotional strikes rather than telling details. “Nine Stone Rig” is a bloody murder ballad, a faux folk song that sounds as ancient as its sentiments of grief and loss. On the upside, Linda’s “No Telling (What a Love Song Will Do”) is an achingly beautiful testament to the healing power of music, while “Dear Old Man” ends the set with a short, sorrowful song of reconciliation that could be to a father or ex-husband. Thompson’s husky low-key delivery and the simple, folky melodies slowly become a part of your psych, the strangely familiar memory of things you’ve never done. Thompson was part of Hal Wilner’s Came So Far For Beauty concerts singing the Leonard Cohen songs “A Thousand Kisses Deep” and “Alexander Leaving.”
In 2007 she cut Versatile Heart (Rounder) a stunning collection of ballads, proving to all that her creative fire remains undiminished. There are few tunes by other writers: Rufus Wainwright contributes “Beauty”, a poignant ballad that Thompson delivers with her understated majesty, while her reading of the Tom Waits/Kathleen Brennan protest song “Day After Tomorrow” is positively heartrending. The song is written as a letter home from a young man in Iraq, praying that he’ll live to see his 21st birthday. Thompson’s vocal is haunting, brimming over with raw longing and an almost fatal resignation. On “Do Your Best For Rock’n’ Roll” Linda and son Teddy channel the ghost of Hank Williams, Sr. “Give Me a Sad Song”, another country weeper, co-written with long time collaborator Betsy Cook, uses images of booze, country music and remorse to paint a distressing picture of a life in ruins. “Blue & Gold” is written as an English folksong, using the language of fairy tales to explore the ups and downs of love. It’s a risky gambit, but Thompson pulls it off without resorting to clichés. Thompson’s heart may be versatile, but her forte is her ability to imbue songs of remorse, loss and frustrated desire with a soulful beauty and an implied state of grace. This album is even deeper, more sensitive and more inspiring than the astonishing Fashionably Late.