Richard Thompson

With his band Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson was instrumental in helping English folk music make the transition to electric sounds in the late '60s. Then, with his former wife, Linda, Thompson became one of the top folk-rock acts of the '70s. That collaboration ended with their great 1982 breakup album Shoot Out the Lights, but Thompson has been recording steadily ever since, releasing mostly stripped-down albums that have placed as much focus on his innovative guitar work as they have his songwriting. His latest studio album, 2010's Dream Attic, is one of the most charged, rocking records he's released in the past 10 years.