Richard and Linda Thompson – I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
Linda is the most wonderful, unappreciated singer. She should be known by a much, bigger audience. She should have been as big as Dusty Springfield! She doesn’t overdo anything. She sings simply, but decorates a song at just the right point.

She’s also a dear friend, and very funny; she’s been very important to me at different points in my life. Richard is also one of the only original songwriters I can still listen to today, and really appreciate. I saw him in Bath last year and he was absolutely shining. There’s such an iron will about his songs.

‘Withered and Died’ off this album means a lot to me. I played it a lot after Ashley [Hutchings, from Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention, her second husband] and I broke up in the late 1970s. That was was a very tough time for me. It said everything I needed to say.