Martin Carthy | Artist
Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist born 1941 in Hatfield, UK. He has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music who was a leading figure of the folk revival in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s. Carthy's vocal and musical training began as a chorister at the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy. He picked up his father's old guitar after hearing "Rock Island Line" by Lonnie Donegan, and other folk-blues influences such as Big Bill Broonzy, and the syncopated guitar style of Elizabeth Cotton. Carthy performed his first professional engagement at the age of 16 at The Loft coffee bar in Primrose Gardens, London. He left school at 17 and worked as prompter at the open-air theatre in Regent's Park, then as assistant stage manager 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 and also frequented Ewan MacColl's Ballads & Blues club. When American singer Bob Dylan arrived in London for the first time in 1962 to perform in the BBC Television Play Madhouse on Castle Street, he visited Carthy at The Troubadour and learned the traditional song "Scarborough Fair" from Carthy, which later developed into the song "Girl From the North Country." Carthy is a mostly solo performer of traditional songs in a very distinctive style, accompanying himself on his Martin acoustic guitar; his style is marked by the use of alternative tunings and a strongly percussive picking style that emphasises the melody. Carthy's eponymous debut solo album was released in 1965, featuring Dave Swarbrick playing fiddle on some tracks. This was the start of an enduring partnership which saw the Carthy/Swarbrick collaboration flourish, with the pair eventually finding themselves as members of the most successful folk-rock bands of the day, Steeleye Span, and Fairport Convention. As a recording artist, Carthy has released 17 studio albums, including solo works and collaborations with artists such as his wife Norma Waterson and his Daughter Eliza Carthy. Standout albums include Martin Carthy (1965), Byker Hill with Dave Swarbrick (1967), This Is Martin Carthy: The Bonny Black Hare and Other Songs (1971), Shearwater (1972), and The Moral of the Elephant with Eliza Carthy (2014). As a matter of interest, Carthy's arrangement of the traditional ballad "Scarborough Fair" was adapted, without acknowledgement, by Paul Simon on the 1966 Simon & Garfunkel album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. 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. In June 1998 Martin Carthy was appointed an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours, and was named Folk Singer of the Year at the BBC Folk Awards in 2002 and again in 2005.
Artist Website: wikipedia/Martin_Carthy
Featured Albums: Martin Carthy
Related Artists: Steeleye Span, The Watersons, Eliza Carthy, Dave Swarbrick
