Richard Thompson sings about 'Hippies, Thugs and Heroes in October

Hippies, Thugs and Heroes, Richard Thompson's 20th studio album, is due on October 16 via New West Records. 

As he finished recording, Thompson says about the songs and their desperate characters: “You look over the body of songs you’ve written and ask yourself, 'Which ones are kindred spirits?' You look for commonality among the songs, and it’s also a joy when you realize that certain songs seem to be brothers and sisters..”

The first single, “Cocaine Walking, Booze Talking,” is a tale of folks hustling in London—a “carousel queen” overwhelmed by the big city, a soldier quoting Shakespeare, “a Kings Road Hippie,” and a “Sauchiehill thug.” Hear it HERE.

Thompson wrote and demoed songs for his backing band, which includes Taras Prodaniuk on bass, Michael Jerome on drums, David Mansfield on guitar and fiddle, and his wife Zara Phillips on backing vocals. His home recordings were much more elaborate, much more specific for the new album. 

“It’s so much fun to mess around at home and disappear down in the basement for hours at a time. I even bought myself a drumkit. So I was able to present more complete demos to the band. You could say there’s much more of my identity being transferred to the final product.” 

As always, he left room for the band to add their own ideas, but admits Hippies, Thugs and Heroes is “less them and more me. But I’m never strict about what I want to hear on a record. I’m always interested to see what they come up with, and I always want to see where a song takes me.” 

Thompson and the band convened at Hobosound Studio in Weehawken, New Jersey, located a stone’s throw from his own home. “I think this is why this album came together so quickly. We could just steam through at high speed and not labor over everything.” The small crew recorded live with a minimum of takes—sometimes as few as two, but rarely more than four.” 

Hippies, Thugs and Heroes will be available across digital platforms, compact disc, and standard black vinyl. A limited clear with black splatter color vinyl edition with an autographed insert as well as a limited CD edition autographed by Richard Thompson will be available at Independent Retailers. A limited pink marbled color vinyl edition including a bonus flexi-disc featuring a demo recording of “Cocaine Walking, Booze Talking,” and an autographed insert will be available via Rough Trade. A limited yellow with black splatter color vinyl edition including an autographed insert as well as a limited & autographed compact disc edition is available for pre-order NOW via NEW WEST RECORDS.

Track Listing:

1. Sorcerer’s Apprentice
2. Cocaine Walking, Booze Talking
3. Pauper’s Grave
4. Unsung Hero
5. Make Believe You Don’t Know Me
6. She Burns It All
7. Everybody’s Stealing
8. The Soul In Me
9. Pipe Dreams
10. The Big Smoke
11. Stringer
12. Siren

RichardThompson-Music.com
NewWestRecords.com