Richard Thompson gave an astounding account of himself as both musician and music scholar in a concert unlike any other I can remember seeing. The singer and guitarist, so much beloved by the folk music cognoscenti, was taking a break from playing his own compositions by reviving a show ambitiously titled 1,000 Years of Popular Music, which he first presented eight years ago in Los Angeles.

In a guided tour spanning the past millennium, he explored the world of “popular” singing and songwriting with faultless performances of an astonishingly diverse range of material, which stretched from Lennon and McCartney's I Want to Hold Your Hand all the way back to a song called Ja Nuls Hom Pris, written (and sung by Thompson) in medieval French by King Richard I in 1190.

In an effort to “leave no genre unturned”, as he put it, Thompson delved into nooks and crannies that most modern musicians are probably not even aware of, let alone able to re-create. His selection included a 17th-century madrigal (Pipe, Shepherds, Pipe); a burst of English opera (Henry Purcell's When I am Laid in Earth); an 18th-century carol (Remember O Thou Man); an American sea shanty (Shenandoah); a 19th-century mining song (Blackleg Miner); a music hall favourite (Trafalgar Square); and Gilbert and Sullivan's When a Man Goes to Woo - and that was all before the interval.

Thompson was accompanied by the percussionist and singer Debra Dobkin and the singer Judith Owen, who also supplied keyboards and a striking dash of personality to the performance. Owen's version of Julie London's Cry Me a River was one of several highlights that she contributed to the show. But the key to the performance was how one man, armed with nothing more than an acoustic guitar and a black beret, was able to master so many strikingly different and often difficult idioms and shape the results into such a coherent and thoroughly entertaining tour de force.

Returning for the second half, Thompson maintained a brisk, running commentary on the provenance of the songs as he reached the 20th century. Numbers by Cole Porter and the Inkspots gave way to the more uptempo rhythms of 1950s rock'n'roll and country music. Then came hits from the 1960s, including a poignant version of the Kinks' See My Friends and the urgent, day-counting whirl of the Easybeats' Friday On My Mind. Abba's Money, Money, Money was played for cheap laughs, while a stretch of Nelly Furtado's Maneater was rendered in the fashion of medieval church music and sung in Latin. The thread from past to present remained miraculously unbroken.

Tour includes: Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, Jan 21; Sage, Gateshead, Jan 23; St David's Hall, Cardiff, Jan 26; Birmingham Town Hall, Jan 29; Colston Hall, Bristol, Jan 30; Brighton Dome, Jan 31; Barbican, Feb 3

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