Seeing Richard Thompson's transcendent concert performance Tuesday night at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City, I came away with two realizations. The first is that Thompson, clearly one of the best guitarists of his or any other generation, is better than nearly everyone else in part because he is always doing something interesting in his songs. The second is that Thompson's back catalog is so deep and so rich that he could pluck dozens of unique set lists from it and never offer anything less than a stellar show.

Tuesday's show was a rare opportunity for those of us in the heartland to see Thompson with a band. It's a travesty that an artist of his caliber can't afford to bring a band on tour, all the more when one sees a capacity crowd like this left slack-jawed in awe. I've seen Thompson four times now, and while each was fantastic, this was the most satisfying. The first was a duo performance with bassist Danny Thompson (also part of last night's band), the second a solo show that leaned heavily on his "1000 Years of Popular Music" set and the third another solo outing at a large outdoor festival.

Seeing Thompson solo, it's easy to take for granted his guitar prowess. Either his guitar or his voice must fill the silence, so you grow to expect those frequent flashes of brilliance. With a band, however -- which in this case meant guitar, bass, drums and the work of multi-instrumentalist Pete Zorn -- Thompson has room to move. He doesn't need to fill every space, yet he does so. That would be a recipe for disaster in the hands of a lesser guitarist, but with Thompson, it simply means that there is never a dull moment. Not content to simply strum his way through a song, he instead drives things along with little trills and fills that add texture and color. His searing solos are what wow you initially, but the smaller moments are what stick with you.

It helps that he has built up such an impressive batch of songs over the course of his career. I came in expecting to hear a few new songs, several from his recent albums and then a sprinkling of his best-known tunes. Instead, he front-loaded the show with four tracks from his latest disc, Sweet Warrior, and then picked an odd yet arresting assortment of songs from his back catalog. These weren't obscurities, but the set list did veer away from many of the more predictable selections found on his many live discs. The result was refreshing but no less riveting than the expected set of well-worn classics.

That meant that while we still heard songs like "Wall of Death," "Vincent Black Lightning 1952" and "Tear-Stained Letter," we also were treated to "I Still Dream" from Amnesia, "Hard Luck Stories" from Pour Down Like Silver and "The Sun Never Shines on the Poor" from Hokey Pokey. Thompson seemed to favor his back catalog, plucking as many songs from 1983's Hand of Kindness ("Tear-Stained Letter" and "The Wrong Heartbeat") as from his output since the early 90s, playing only two songs -- Mock Tudor's "Hard on Me" and The Old Kit Bag's "One Door Opens" -- from his last five pre-Sweet Warrior studio albums.

While several songs from those discs would have fit seamlessly in this set, it was clear that Thompson was picking tunes that worked well in a band context and which gave him the opportunity to really shine on guitar. It was a point well made by his selections from Sweet Warrior. He played seven of that disc's 14 tracks, and most fit very well within the set. The opening four showed off his remarkable range, from the mid-tempo "Needle and Thread" to the rave-up of "Bad Monkey" and the moody balladry of the instant classic "Take Care the Road You Choose." The topical "Dad's Gonna Kill Me," the closest Thompson has come to generating mainstream attention in years, also came off well, the gimmick of its lyric leavened by his playing.

The heavy presence of tunes from Sweet Warrior was smart; the disc has seemed somewhat slight on initial spins, but these performances show its songs to have a depth that will bear many repeat listens. His two most recent full-band electric discs, Mock Tudor and The Old Kit Bag, each contain more readily accessible songs, but Sweet Warrior feels weightier, meatier. My guess is that it will have staying power that its immediate predecessors ultimately will lack, despite their appeal. And strange as it may seem, these new songs were more satisfying last night than the songs I initially wanted to hear, such as the comparatively simple "Wall of Death." That's all relative, of course, as the entire show was a gem.

Regardless of the format or the set list, Thompson always delivers. As such, any time he wants to perform anywhere near me, I'll be there.

Labels: music