“Thompson,” the sur- in Teddy Thompson’s name, is not a bad music industry handle – especially if you have any interest whatsoever in the great school of British progressive folk and all of its downhill streams. In that tradition, Teddy’s father Richard Thompson is a royal among royals. And in the opinion of many of his admirers (including me), the best work Richard ever did was the six albums with Teddy’s mother Linda Thompson: stellar collections of folk/rock songs from the traditional to the terrifyingly confessional that happened to coincide with the Golden Age of studio recording.
Teddy’s command of the legacy has been sure-handed, productive and distinctly his own since his 2000 self-titled debut. The high-character and detail-oriented songwriter is broadly “in the tradition” of his parents; but so are most of us, when you think about it – if we play guitars at all.
Mendelson is not a bad sur- for your name, either, if you add an “h” and an extra “s” and claim descent from the great brother-and-sister prodigy pair of Felix and Fanny. Well, I’m not sure that the gifted progressive folk/pop songwriter Leslie Mendelson cares much about those twin titans of Romantic music; but on her 2017 effort Love & Murder, there is plenty of evidence of deep, genre-defying range in the record’s variety of ambient mood pieces and whispered piano Impressionism.
What a nice double bill for BSP in Kingston! Teddy Thompson and Leslie Mendelson pair for a show on Saturday, September 30 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $15 in advance and $20 at the door. They are available locally at Outdated and Rocket Number Nine in Kingston, Jack’s Rhythms in New Paltz, Darkside Records in Poughkeepsie and the Woodstock Music Shop. For more information, visit www.bspkingston.com. BSP is located at 323 Wall Street in Kingston.