Linda Thompson will release the aptly titled Fashionably Late, her first album in seventeen years, on July 30th. In addition to guest appearances by Van Dyke Parks, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Kate Rusby, Cara Dillon and Eliza Carthy, the album features a collaboration with Linda's ex-husband and former recording partner Richard Thompson.

"Richard is and always was a pleasure to work with," says Linda of Richard's guitar work and backing vocals on "Dear Mary." "Plus, he worked for free. I could love Stalin for that!"

The two recorded a pair of heralded albums, 1974's I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight and 1982's Shoot Out the Lights (which Rolling Stone named one of the top ten albums of the Eighties), before going through a bitter divorce.

Linda co-wrote the album with her and Richard's son Teddy Thompson, who also plays on the album.

"I was damn surprised that I wrote anything," Linda says. "It started off as an album of covers, but the songs just tumbled out . . . I generally give [Teddy] the lyric, he takes it from there, though he actually wrote some great lyrics on our co-writes."

Linda suffers from a psychological disorder known as hysterical dysphonia, which renders victims unable to speak, and that was partly responsible for the hibernation between records, but she cites a couple other factors as well. "I had to wait until the kids grew up so I could work with them. Also my mum died, which sent me into a downward spiral, which always makes me put pen to paper . . . I think the record encompasses the best of the past and best of the future."

She plans to embark on her first tour in twenty years in September.

Fashionably Late track listing:

Dear Mary
Miss Murray
All I See
Nine Stone Rig
No Telling
Evona Darling
On the Banks of the Clyde
Weary Life
Paint & Powder Beauty
Dear Old Man of Mine

COLIN DEVENISH
(May 20, 2002)