Richard Thompson - Honky Tonk Blues - Videowest 81

[Daycron66]

Love those octaves. The man just owns those 6 strings.

[spacedragonsinspace]

he would be amazing around a campfire

[mink61]

You seem to have a problem with people copping old licks and rehashing it....it’s called Rock&Roll, and I like it. I wasn’t referring to RT becoming ‘unstuck’, quite the opposite. The synthesizer remark was not meant to be taken literally.

[hazcat]

Looks like open G....D-G-D-G-B-D. Same as "Bright Lights Tonight" from the same session.

[Daycron66]

I love those octave riffs that make it sound like a 12-string. Richard is the man.

[fattystools]

Hank Sr. is looking down and grinning from ear to ear. Awesome!

[soin2top]

Wow - very nice performance. Stellar guitar. Thanks.

[torohec]

what key is this in?



[Leroyfis]

@torohec I believe its in the key of G.

He tunes the low E string to a G I think...

[MacGirvan]

VERY COOL!

[jmccullough]

Before this I would have said that you have to be American to sing Hank.

[jdchasteen]

Best version award!!!! What tuning is being used here? Thanks.

[ceepatton]

Absolutely amazing

[Almanzajj]

one of the greatest guitar player of the universe!

[rca88]

Sheesh - he almost makes a 6-string sound like a 12-string!

[Da1eH0ward]

dude i love that mississippi style blues pickin. reminds me of Big Bill Broonzy or something like that. kick ass.

[blancfaces]

Oh Lord you got it... you got the honky tonk blues... TAKE CARE ;)

[r11nce]

I do not think it get's much better than this

[bennyc741]

Awesome. Made Hank sound like the blues he really was.

This man is amazing.

[sheilamaclean]

Wow, so you can sing as well! lovely bluesy 50's voice, Memphis is where you should be headed for - nice original style.

[Riscan]

Is there anything this guy cant play....awesome musician....a national treasure.

[mistersiegel]

Guitar-wise, as good as anything Muddy Waters or John Hurt ever did. Some day I wish someone would post something showing lots of left hand interspersed with a generous helping of right hand.

[jltardiff]

Well, I love Richard as much as anyone, but John Hurt did some stuff that Richard is still trying to master. Sit back and listen to the originals.

[lurchpappy]

who mentioned John Hurt? He's planted in a pine box, if we listened to "originals" music would never progress. What's there to master anyway? MJH was an amazing stylist, but was not as polished as RT is. He can play anything.

[mink61]

@lurchpappy That seems to me to be a very curious argument given that Richard Thompson’s guitar playing is a conglomeration of ‘pine-box-bound’ artist’s styles. Frankly, when people try racing ahead into some brave new world, they come unstuck; who wants to watch a couple of ‘erberts standing around in front of a synthesizer all night..... you probably.

[lurchpappy]

@mink61 RT has never become "unstuck". No artist is truly in a brave new world. They are always interpreting to varying degrees the work that came before them. What I have a problem with is when people think that a style can and should be mastered. Nothing is ever mastered. RT has always interpreted traditional styles without forsaking his own vision. He's blurred the line between the work of others and his own. That's as close to originality as anyone will ever get...

[lurchpappy]

@mink61 and as for the "synthesizer" comment... When did I ever mention them? Or is that what you think the "brave new world" of music is? You do realize that  synthesizers and sonic art have been around since the late 19th century? So technically an "erbert" standing around a synthesizer is as much of a traditional artist as the bluesman hacking his way through the repetoires of dead men.

[ramsaytupper]

You don't see RT doing this kind of thing every day, do you ?