Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips

Name: Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips
Start: 2026-04-05T20:00:00-07:00
Location: Rio Theatre

Schedule

Sun, 05 Apr, 2026 at 08:00 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

Rio Theatre | Santa Cruz, CA

Richard Thompson with Zara Phillips
with special guest Muireann Bradley
RICHARD THOMPSON
Richard Thompson’s musical influence cannot be overstated. Having co-founded the groundbreaking group Fairport Convention as a teenager in the ‘60s, he and his bandmates invented the distinctive strain of British Folk Rock. He left the group by the age of 21 which was followed by a decade long musical partnership with his then-wife Linda, to over 30 years as a highly successful solo artist.
In 2011, Thompson received an OBE (Order of the British Empire) personally bestowed upon him by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. The Los Angeles Times called him “the finest rock songwriter after Dylan and the best electric guitarist since Hendrix” and Rolling Stone has named him one of the Top 100 Guitarists of All Time.
He has received lifetime achievement awards for songwriting from the BBC Radio 2 Awards, the Americana Music Association, and was awarded the prestigious Ivor Novello Award. His song “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” was named one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Greatest Songs Since 1923.” A wide range of musicians have recorded Thompson’s songs including Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, R.E.M., Sleater-Kinney, Del McCoury, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Jones, David Byrne, Don Henley, Los Lobos, and many more. His massive body of work includes many Grammy nominated albums as well as numerous soundtracks, including Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man and 2019’s The Cold Blue.
His genre defying mastery of both acoustic and electric guitar along with engaging energy and onstage wit continue to earn him new fans and a place as one of the most distinctive virtuosos and writers in Folk Rock history.
ZARA PHILLIPS
Zara Phillips is a singer and songwriter, actor, author, and activist. As an adoptee herself, much of her work is centered around the adoption world and is focused on improving understanding the lifelong impact of adoption. She is a mother of three and tours with her husband, musician Richard Thompson. She divides her time between London and New Jersey.

Zara was raised in Totteridge, North London, and was adopted as a baby. She found her birth mother at 24 and after a lifelong search, her birth father at 51. She was always singing and writing as a child, which led to her becoming a harmony singer in the 80s, with acts like Bob Geldof, Matt Bianco, David Essex, and Nick Kamen.
After a spell of addiction, she became sober at age 22, and devoted more of her time to her own music, writing and activism. Her 2006 CD ‘When The Rain Stops’ and ‘You me and us” 2011. were produced by Ted Perlman. Her 2008 Film ‘Roots Unknown’ won Best Homegrown Documentary at the NJ Garden State Film Festival. Her 2008 book, ‘Mother Me’ describes the unfolding as an adoptee raises a family of her own. Her song ‘I’m Legit’, cowritten with Darryl McDaniel’s of DMC, has been a huge hit in the adoption world and beyond. ‘Beneath My Father’s Sky’, a one woman show that Zara wrote and performed, was the winner of Best Direction at NYC United Solo festival in 2014, and was also performed in LA, San Francisco, Connecticut, and in London in 2016.