Thompson is a master showman . . . [Beeswing is] everything you'd hope a Richard Thompson
autobiography would be . . . It's both major and minor dirge and ditty light on its feet but
packing a punch.? ?The Wall Street Journal An intimate look at the early years of one of the
world's most significant and influential guitarists and songwriters. 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 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. An honest moving and compelling memoir Beeswing vividly captures the life
of a remarkable artist during a period of creative intensity in a world on the cusp of change.
