When approaching Liz Durrett about recording 'Chilly Winds', we were convinced that her beautifully dusky voice would be perfect for capturing the feeling of longing that the lyrics demand, so it was a real joy to get the track back and realise we were totally right. Recorded with her uncle Vic Chesnutt on keyboard, Liz makes the song her own with a gorgeously understated performance that's full of yearning and dewy-eyed determination, a muted bass drum and sparsely picked acoustic guitar line ushering the song along like ripples in a puddle of tears.
Giving the song's lyrics a whole new poignancy, Vic took his own life on Christmas Day 2009, less than one month after the album came out. He was a brilliant musician, superhuman no less, and we will forever be grateful for his contribution to Beautiful Star.
John Drumbo French from Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band worked with Thompson on two albums along with Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser.
Those two French, Frith, Kaiser and Thompson albums led me to this.
Also, Richard Thompson taught Hugh Cornwell (of The Stranglers) how to play the bass guitar in a band when they were both at the same school (Emil and The Detectives?).
With a career spanning 50 years and playing with two of my heroes (French and Cornwell) Thompson has produced a fascinating EP. yellowcakeuf6
The instrumentation and songwriting in this album is really top-tier. Aofie is one of my favorite folk/alt-country artists and she performs wonderfully, bringing her unique tone of voice to this project. This album was my first step into Aofie's artistry, and is firmly one of my favorite albums. rileyridgway