As two of the featured cruise artists, you can check out a special World Cafe session recorded straight from the cruise itself.

Both Thompson and Wainwright have their perspective careers, full of top notch albums and influential music that spans over several decades. In the five decades that Richard Thompson has been making music, he has earned some of the highest praise for his long lived reputation as a live performer, guitarist and songwriter. Meanwhile, Wainwright, who was born in 1946, has been hailed as a legacy with over twenty recorded albums, two of which were nominated Grammy's in the 1980's ("I'm Alright" and "More Love Songs").

The L.A. based artist via West London, Thompson started his musical when he was 18 after forming Fairport Convention. As Fairport Convention evolved, so did Richard Thompson's guitar playing and song writing, and after four years with the band, he released his first solo album "Henry the Human Fly" in 1972. Thompson has since released over 40 albums, all of which are marked by his rocking guitar virtuosos and dramatically unfolding stories about anything from family to war. Though his career was full of rough patches, he seems ever more confident in his work as a solo artist. So when he decided to tackle his latest Grammy nominated endeavor, "Dream Attic," he did not head straight to the studio to record. Instead, he compile a solid 13 new songs which he immediately brought to the stage during his February 2010 West Coast tour. Within the two week tour, the songs were recorded live,featuring an energetic arrangement of guitar, strings, mandolin, sax, bass and drums.

The same year that Thompson released "Dream Attic," Wainwright released "10 Soungs for the New Depression," which, coming off of a Grammy for 2009's "Charlie Poole Project," addresses the economic hardship in these last few years through song. After 40 years since he recorded his first album, his highly personal and bittersweet songwriting is still just as powerful. He's reworked a few songs from the 1930s Depression era, but by and large this is his personal take on the very human changes happening in the context of a dipping economy.

In this cayamo cruise interview, the duo talks about how their paths crossed and how they began performing with one another for the Loud and Rich tour.



Richard Thompson
Recent Release: Dream Attic
Release Date: August 31, 2010    
Label: Shout Factory!

Band Origin: London

Loudon Wainwright III
Recent Release: 10 Soungs for the New Depression    
Release Date: July 27, 2010
Label: PID

Band Origin: Chapel Hill, North Carolina



SET LIST:
I WANT TO SEE SOME BRIGHT LIGHTS TONIGHT
IF I LOSE
THE ANIMAL SONG
DOWN WHERE THE DRUNKARDS ROLL
A HEART NEEDS A HOME