Hi Susanne

I read in "Strange Affair" (the RT biography), that Sour Grapes was formed in around 1972 after Richard had made his first solo album and before he and Linda recorded "Bright Lights". It was initially Richard and Simon Nicol on guitars with Linda on vocals. The combination of Richard and Simon on acoustic guitars seems to work quite well. There are a number of unofficial recordings around from shows like the Richard Digance show, and a rather nice one from about 1981. At some stage they did add drums and bass and tour as a full band I believe, but the trio linup seems to have been the longest lived. It seems to have been an informal sort of arrangement which they used as an alternative to touring as the "Richard and Linda Thompson Band"

Hope this helps

David