Richard Thompson - The Old Kit Bag

Like Canada’s Bruce Cockburn, England’s Richard Thompson is a fretboard genius and a gifted songwriter who enjoys more acclaim than fame. Thompson’s latest recording won’t make him rich either. But it’s an admirable album that bridges old-world sounds with contemporary subject matter on songs like the tortured “Jealous Words” and the jaunty “One Door Opens.” Similarly, the wrenching “A Love You Can’t Survive” could easily have been written during the Middle Ages—until it becomes clear that the bitter ballad concerns cocaine smuggling.