After sixteen years of recording for Polygram and Capitol, Richard Thompson will travel the independent route for his new album, The Old Kit Bag, which will be released on February 3rd by the U.K.'s Cooking Vinyl Records. An American release on iMusic is slated for the spring, but the date has not been finalized.

Produced by John Chelew (Los Lobos, Blind Boys of Alabama), the album, Thompson's first of new material since 1999's Mock Tudor, was recorded with a minimum of overdubs. Aside from Thompson on guitar and dulcimer, it features bassist Danny Thompson, drummer Michael Jerome and background vocalist Judith Owen.

Richard Thompson wrote the twelve originals over the last two years, and many will be familiar to those who have attended his recent concerts. However, he did not include comical crowd pleasers like "My Daddy Is a Mummy" and the anti-Kenny G. diatribe "I Agree With Pat Metheny."

Thompson, who has toured extensively since he parted ways with Capitol in 2001, will kick off another eight-city swing Thursday in Lawrence, Kansas, before he heads to the U.K. He plans to play more U.S. dates later this year.

Richard Thompson tour dates:

1/16: Lawrence, KS, Liberty Hall
1/17: Des Moines, IA, Hotel Fort Des Moines
1/18: Sioux Falls, SD, Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater
1/19: Omaha, NE, Music Box
1/21: Bozeman, MT, Gallatin Gateway Inn
1/22: Missoula, MT, University Theater
1/23: Spokane, WA, The Met
1/25: Eugene, OR, McDonald Theater

The Old Kit Bag track listing:

Gethsemane
Jealous Words
I'll Tag Along
A Love You Can't Survive
One Door Opens
First Breath
Destiny
Got No Right
Pearly Jim
Sight Unseen
Outside of the Inside
Happy Days and Auld Lang Syne

CHARLES BERMANT
(January 15, 2003)