The Old Kit Bag by Richard Thompson

The Old Kit Bag, Richard Thompson's eleventh studio album, came out on Cooking Vinyl in 2003, and it's the first thing he made after walking away from the big-label world, where he'd spent years as a critics' favorite who never sold much. He paid for the sessions himself and let the small independent handle the marketing and distribution, a deal that meant, as he put it, he finally owned his own recordings.

The sound shrank to match. John Chelew's production stays out of the way, the band is pared down, and the focus falls squarely on Thompson's voice and that sharp, darting guitar. The title nods to the World War I marching song "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag", which Thompson described as a grin-and-whistle tune for when the shells are falling, and that grim gallows cheer suits the old Fairport Convention guitarist down to the ground.

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