As he releases new album Hippies, Thugs and Heroes, the 77-year-old British folk legend answers your questions about Billy Connolly, Californian fish and chips and whether he nearly joined the Eagles

Billy Connolly recalled being in a room with you, Sandy Denny, Nick Drake and John Martyn. Did you feel you were collectively doing something special? poscopy
That might have been at the Royal Festival Hall [in 1969], where Fairport Convention had Nick and John as openers and Billy must have been backstage. He’d have been in the Humblebums with Gerry Rafferty, before he evolved from a banjo player who told jokes into a comedian who played a bit of banjo. He was always a fantastic bloke and we’ve been friends for a long time.

There was a great camaraderie between the stable of acts Joe Boyd produced: Fairport, the Incredible String Band, John Martyn, Chris McGregor. We felt different, not special, and didn’t feel successful because we weren’t. None of these people really sold many records in their lifetimes, but people are still discovering them now. This album is my latest attempt to sell some units.

Ahead of new album Hippies, Thugs and Heroes, the British folk music legend will join us to answer your questions

From Fairport Convention to his musical partnership with then-wife Linda and on to solo albums that still trouble the UK charts, Richard Thompson is an undisputed icon of British folk music – and ahead of his latest release, entitled Hippies, Thugs and Heroes, he’s joining us to answer your questions.

Now 77, Thompson’s career began in his teens when he formed Fairport Convention and struck out into writing new material rather than covers and folk standards: in so doing, albums such as 1969’s Liege and Lief became part of the British folk canon themselves.