Daily Download: "For Whose Sake?" Richard Thompson

There's something about Richard Thompson's voice, rich and low but not exactly dark, rarely cracking or betraying any weakness, touched with rockabilly and never quite losing the hokiness of the folk revival sound, that has limited his fame largely to folk sympathizers, more or less ignored by the young and hip who venerate Dylan and Neil Young and even Bert Jansch. If you're predisposed to dislike his singing, this track, from his wonderful new collection of acoustic songs, "Front Parlour Ballads," will be a difficult listen, crooniness and vibrato in full effect. If you do like his voice (and I'm a sucker for it), this is a real treat, Thompson at his least wordy and most directly emotional.