Thompson’s Darker Side Captivates

The pairing of singer-songwriters Nanci Griffith and Richard Thompson on Thursday at the House of Blues in Anaheim gave an object lesson on the yin and yang of adult folk rock.

Griffith embodied all the empathy, liberal politics and effusive sharing of emotion that’s a key part of the folk tradition. With the always tasteful backing of her five-piece Blue Moon Orchestra, she offered song after song exploring humanity’s nobler qualities.

As the evening’s yang man, Thompson preceded Griffith in a solo set, accompanying himself--magnificently--on acoustic guitar, spitting out lyrics that chafe at human frailty or revel in the darkness lurking deep in the human soul.

Guess whose performance was more captivating.

For all her good intentions and support of worthy causes, Griffith often gets bogged down in the chatty setups to her songs, forgetting the value of letting a good lyric speak for itself.

Thompson offered an acerbic comment here, a wry observation there during his hour set, but mostly let his music do the talking--or, in many cases, scowling, hurting and yearning.

Both have gone some time without new albums: Griffith drew generously from last year’s “Clock Without Hands” and is preparing a live album for the fall; Thompson dropped in a couple of numbers from an in-progress album and a couple from his 3-year-old “Mock Tudor” as he hopscotched through an impressively deep repertoire whose quality shows no signs of letting up.

Griffith brought Thompson out for a duet on the old Richard and Linda Thompson number “Wall of Death” toward the end of her 90-minute set.

With just his acoustic guitar, Thompson zapped her set with some electricity missing earlier.