Richard Thompson Tribute for Solid Ground

A number of top-notch musicians will be holding a benefit concert for Wallingford’s Solid Ground this Thursday, December 19th down in Columbia City:

There’s a Fire in the Engine Room is the name of an uptempo rocker by the legendary British songwriter and guitar God, Richard Thompson. It’s also an apt description of the musical fires that will crackle when a star-studded, eclectic group of local musicians get together in A Heart Needs a Home a Richard Thompson tribute show to raise money for Solid Ground’s efforts to house people who are homeless.

A Heart Needs a Home features guitar legend Bill Frisell, a crack house band of Wayne Horvitz (keyboards), Darren Loucas (guitar) Eric Eagle (drums) and Luke Bergman (bass), as well as multi-instrumentalists Joel Tepp and Michael Connolly, and feature vocalists Robin Holcomb, Arni Adler, Eli West, Jim Page, Reggie Garrett and more.

We’ve asked these amazingly creative performers to bring their magic to a set of tunes from the 50-year career of Richard Thompson.

Thompson might be the ultimate cult musician. He is a founding father of British folkrock, one of the most respected songwriters in the English language, and a guitar dervish whose fluid playing melds many musical traditions from around the world.

Here is a video of Jim Page rehearsing Thompson’s “Beeswing” and converting the filigreed folk number into a story about local farm workers.

Want to see what Bill Frisell does with this? Your only chance is Dec. 19th at The Royal Room.

The show is at the Royal Room (5000 Rainier Ave S) at 7:30 pm and 9:30 on Thursday, December 19th. Tickets and info at theroyalroomseattle.com