Linda Thompson announces new album, Proxy Music

Folk-rock royalty Linda Thompson has announced that Proxy Music, her first new solo album since 2013’s Won’t Be Long Now, will be released by StorySound Records on June 21.

The title refers to the fact that Thompson herself was unable to sing these songs, due to a rare condition called spasmodic dysphonia that has periodically affected her career since the early 1980s. Instead, vocal duties are handled by a range of all-star guests including John Grant, The Proclaimers, The Unthanks, Eliza Carthy, Rufus Wainwright and various members of Thompson’s talented extended family.

Hear lead single “The Solitary Traveller” – written with James Walbourne and sung by Kami Thompson (AKA The Rails) – below:

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“Solitary Traveller, I wouldn’t know,” says Thompson. “I’ve never been one. But, if you have a lot of people in your life, you sometimes yearn for solitude. Conversely, solitary people often crave company. It is a bit of a dichotomy. My daughter doing the honours.”

Pre-order Proxy Music here and check out the tracklisting below:

  1. The Solitary Traveller feat. Kami Thompson
  2. Or Nothing at All feat. Martha Wainwright
  3. Bonnie Lass feat. The Proclaimers
  4. Darling This Will Never Do feat. Rufus Wainwright
  5. I Used To Be So Pretty feat. Ren Harvieu
  6. John Grant feat. John Grant
  7. Mudlark feat. The Rails
  8. Shores of America feat. Dori Freeman
  9. That’s the Way the Polka Goes feat. Eliza Carthy
  10. Three Shaky Ships feat. The Unthanks
  11. Those Damn Roches feat. Teddy Thompson
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