Martin Carthy

Martin Carthy

Performing with The Imagined Village at Camp Bestival; 20 July 2008
Background information
Birth name Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy
Born (1941-05-21) 21 May 1941
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Origin London, England
Genres English Folk, folk baroque
Occupation(s) Singer
musician
songwriter
record producer
actor
Instruments acoustic guitar
electric guitar
mandolin
banjo
dulcimer
Years active 1960–present
Labels Topic, Fontana, Philips, Deram, B&C
Associated acts Waterson–Carthy
Blue Murder
The Watersons
Steeleye Span
Albion Country Band
Brass Monkey
The Imagined Village
Dave Swarbrick
Website watersoncarthy.com
Notable instruments
000-18MC Martin Carthy signature edition guitar by The Martin Guitar Company
Fender Telecaster

Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon[1] and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days of the folk revival.

Early life

He was born in Hatfield and grew up in Hampstead, North London. His mother was an active socialist and his father, from a family of Thames lightermen, went to grammar school and became a trade unionist and a councillor for Stepney at the age of 21. Martin's father had played fiddle and guitar as a young man but Martin was unaware of this connection to his folk music heritage until much later in life. His vocal and musical training began when he became a chorister at the Queen's Chapel of The Savoy. He picked up his father's old guitar for the first time after hearing "Rock Island Line" by Lonnie Donegan. He has cited his first major folk music influences as Big Bill Broonzy and the syncopated guitar style of Elizabeth Cotten. Carthy performed his first professional engagement at the age of 16 at The Loft, a coffee bar in Primrose Gardens.[2] Although his father wanted him to go to university to study classics, Carthy left school at 17 and worked behind the scenes as a prompter at the open-air theatre in Regent's Park, then as an assistant stage manager (ASM) on a tour of The Merry Widow, and then at Theatre in the Round in Scarborough.. He became a resident at The Troubadour folk club in Earls Court in the early 1960s. He joined Redd Sullivan's Thameside Four in 1961.

Musical career

He is a solo performer of traditional songs in a very distinctive style, accompanying himself on his Martin 000-18 acoustic guitar; his style is marked by the use of alternative tunings (notably CGCDGA), and a strongly percussive picking style that emphasises the melody.

In 1964 Carthy joined Marian Mackenzie, Ralph Trainer and Leon Rosselson in the group The Three City Four. The group concentrated on contemporary songs, including some of Rosselson's own, and made two albums – the first for Decca and a second, "Smoke and Dust (Where the Heart Should Have Been)", for CBS. The 1965 eponymous debut The Three City Four featured Carthy singing lead vocals on two tracks – Sydney Carter's "Telephone Song" and Rosselson's own "History Lesson".[3] Roy Bailey would replace Carthy when he later left the group.

Carthy's debut solo album, Martin Carthy, was released in 1965, and also featured Dave Swarbrick playing fiddle on some tracks, although he was not mentioned in the album's sleeve notes. Carthy's arrangement of the traditional ballad "Scarborough Fair" was adapted, without acknowledgement, by Paul Simon on the Simon and Garfunkel album recording Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme in 1966. This caused a rift between the pair which was not resolved until Simon invited Carthy to sing the song with him on-stage at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2000.[2]

Musical collaborations

He has also been involved with many musical collaborations. He has sung with The Watersons since 1972, was twice a member of the UK electric folk group Steeleye Span, was a member of the Albion Country Band 1973 line-up, with members from the Fairport Convention family and John Kirkpatrick, that recorded the Battle of the Field album, and was part of the innovative Brass Monkey ensemble, which mixed a range of brass instruments with Carthy's guitar and mandolin and John Kirkpatrick's accordion, melodeon and concertina.

For many years Carthy enjoyed a creative partnership with fiddle player Dave Swarbrick; more recently, Waterson–Carthy has provided the forum for his successful musical partnership with wife Norma Waterson together with their daughter Eliza Carthy.

Awards

In June 1998 he was appointed an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours. He was named Folk Singer of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2002, and again in 2005 when he also won the award for Best Traditional Track for Famous Flower of Serving Men. In the 2007 Folk Awards Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick won Best duo. In 2014 he was awarded the Lifetime achievement award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Discography

Original / Studio albums (solo or with Dave Swarbrick)

Compilations and live albums

Releases on other formats

As a member of Steeleye Span

with Ashley Hutchings, the Albion Country Band and the Albion Band

As a member of either The Watersons, Waterson–Carthy or with Eliza Carthy

Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson at a Waterson–Carthy performance in Cranleigh, April 2006.

As a member of Brass Monkey

As a member of Blue Murder

Other notable releases

Topic Records 70 year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten issued in 2009

Carthy features throughout this boxed set as follows

As Martin Carthy(Solo or with Dave Swarbrick)

As Part of the Watersons

As Part of Brass Monkey

As Part of Waterson–Carthy

References

  1. ↑ Varga, George (10 February 2000). "SignOnSanDiego.com | The San Diego Union-Tribune | San Diego Green Guide". The San Diego Union. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  2. 1 2 Interview on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs broadcast 13 January 2013
  3. ↑ "The Three City Four". mainlynorfolk.info. 8 November 2013. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  4. 1 2 Three Score and Ten Accompanying Book
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