Derk Richardson and Betty Beasley co-host a 4-hour tribute to the music of Richard Thompson, drawing from the soon-to-be-released, career-spanning box set, Walking on a Wire: Richard Thompson (1968–2009), from Shout! Factory Records.
On four CDs and 71 tracks—starting from the first album by the seminal British folk-rock band Fairport Convention and finishing with 2007’s brilliant Sweet Warrior—this compilation irrefutably makes the case for Thompson as a peerless triple-threat musician (scorching guitarist, refined song craftsmen, emotionally engaging singer), one of the most consistently creative folkies or rockers the baby boom generation has produced.
Throw in, perhaps, some tracks by his ex-wife, Linda Thompson, and his son, Teddy Thompson, and pepper the proceedings with new music by singer-songwriter Diana Jones (who toured with Thompson last year) and live tracks from British peers Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton, and you have a fine way to spend the final evening of the KPFA summer mini fund drive.