Martin Carthy

**Martin Carthy** MBE, is an English folk singer and guitarist. He was one of the first performers in the renewed interest in British folk music in the 1960s. He has inspired other musicians such as Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Richard Thompson. He is seen as one of the most important people in English folk music.

## Early life

Martin Carthy was born in Hatfield on 21 May 1941. He grew up in Hampstead, North London. After he left school he had a number of jobs. He worked behind the scenes at the open air theatre at Regent's Park as a prompter (helping actors who forgot their words). He later worked as an assistant stage manager (ASM) on a tour of _The Merry Widow_. He then worked at Theatre in the Round in Scarborough. He then sang in coffee bars. He became a resident (regular act) at The Troubadour Folk Club in Earls Court in the early 1960s. He joined Redd Sullivan's "Thameside Four" in 1961. He is a famous solo performer of traditional songs. He has a very special individual style of guitar playing on his old Martin Guitar. He uses different ways of tuning his guitar. He has a strongly percussive (drum like) picking style that brings out the melody. His first album, _Martin Carthy_, was released in 1965. It had Dave Swarbrick playing fiddle playing on some songs, although he was not named on the album cover.  Carthy's way of playing the traditional song Scarborough Fair was used by Paul Simon on the Simon and Garfunkel album Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme in 1966. Simon did not admit that he had used Carthy's version.

## Working with others

Carthy has also worked with many other musicians.  He has sung with The Watersons since 1972. He been a member of the UK electric folk group Steeleye Span at two different times. He was a member of the famous Albion Country Band 1973 line-up. This had members from the band Fairport Convention and John Kirkpatrick. This group recorded the original and important album _Battle of the Field_. Carthy was part of the new and different band Brass Monkey which mixed brass instruments, Carthy's guitar and mandolin and John Kirkpatrick's accordion, melodeon and concertina.

For many years Carthy has enjoyed a creating music with fiddle player Dave Swarbrick. He has also worked with his partner  Norma Waterson and their daughter Eliza Carthy in a group called Waterson:Carthy.

In June 1998 he was made 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. In 2005 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".

## Recordings

- Original / Studio albums (solo or with Dave Swarbrick)
- _Martin Carthy_ (1965) with Dave Swarbrick
- _Martin Carthy's Second Album_ (1966) with Dave Swarbrick
- _Byker Hill_ (1967) with Dave Swarbrick
- _But Two Came By_ (1968) with Dave Swarbrick
- _Prince Heathen_ (1969) with Dave Swarbrick
- _Because It's There_ (1971)
- _Crown of Horn_ (1971)
- _Out of the Cut_ (1971)
- _Sweet Wivelsfield_ (1971)
- _Shearwater_ (1972 reissue with extra tracks 2005)
- _Landfall_ (1972)
- _Right of Passage_ (1988)
- _Life and Limb_ (1990) with Dave Swarbrick
- _Skin and Bone_ (1992) with Dave Swarbrick
- _Signs of Life_ (1998)
- _Waiting for Angels_ (2004)
- _Straws in the Wind_ (2006) with Dave Swarbrick

- Collections and live albums:
- _Selections_ (1969) New Zealand and Australia only
- _This Is... Martin Carthy: The Bonny Black Hare and other songs_ (1971) with Dave Swarbrick
- _Selections_ (1971) with Dave Swarbrick
- _Round Up_ (circa early 1970s) with Dave Swarbrick
- _Brigg Fair_ (circa early 1970s) with Dave Swarbrick
- _Tales of Long Ago_ (circa early 1970s) with Dave Swarbrick
- _The Collection_ (1993)
- _Rigs of the Time_ (1993)
- _The Kershaw Sessions_ (1994)
- _A Collection_ (1999)
- _Both Ears and the Tail_ (2000, live recording from 1966) with Dave Swarbrick
- _The Carthy Chronicles_ (2001) 4x CD 83 track box set
- _The Definitive Collection_ (2003)
- _Martin Carthy at Ruskin Mill_ (2005)

- Releases on other formats:
- _No Songs_ (7" vinyl EP 1967) with Dave Swarbrick
- "The Bonny Lass of Angelsey" b/w "Palaces of Gold" (7" vinyl single 1976)
- _100 Not Out_ (Longform video 1992) with Dave Swarbrick
- _British Fingerstyle Guitar_ (Longform video 1993 reissued on DVD 2006)
- _Guitar Maestros_ (DVD 2006)

- As a member of the group Steeleye Span:
- _Please to See the King_ (1971)
- _Ten Man Mop_ (1971)
- _Storm Force Ten_ (1977)
- _Live at Last!_ (1978)
- _The Journey_ (1999)

- As a member of The Watersons and/or Waterson:Carthy
- The Watersons: _For Pence and Spicy Ale_ (1975)
- The Watersons: _Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy_ (1977)
- The Watersons: _Green Fields_ (1981)
- Waterson:Carthy: _Waterson:Carthy_ (1994)
- Waterson:Carthy: _Common Tongue_ (1996)
- Waterson:Carthy: _Broken Ground_ (1999)
- Waterson:Carthy: _A Dark Light_ (2002)
- The Watersons: _The Definitive Collection_ (2003)
- Waterson:Carthy: _Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand_ (2004)
- The Watersons: _Mighty River of Song_ (2004) 4x CD & 1x DVD box set of Watersons and related recordings
- The Watersons: _A Yorkshire Christmas_ (2005)
- Waterson:Carthy: _The Definitive Collection_ (2005)
- Waterson:Carthy: _Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man_ (2006)

- As a member of the group Brass Monkey:
- _Brass Monkey_ (1984)
- _See How It Runs_ (1986)
- _The Complete Brass Monkey_ (1993) compilation of the previous two albums
- _Sound and Rumour_ (1999)
- _Going and Staying_ (2001)
- _Flame of Fire_ (2004)
- _The Definitive Collection_ (2005)

- As a member of group Blue Murder:
- _No One Stands Alone_ (2002)

- Other important recordings:
- _Thamesiders & Davy Graham_ (1963)  7" EP
- Three City Four: _Three City Four_ (1965)
- Dave Swarbrick, Martin Carthy & Diz Disley: _Rags Reel & Airs_ (1966)
- Various Artists: _Bright Phoebus: Songs by Lal & Mike Waterson_ (1972)
- Albion Country Band: _Battle Of The Field_ (1976)
- John Kirkpatrick: _Plain Capers_ (1976)
- Albion Country Band: _Larkrise To Candleford_ (1980)
- Band of Hope: _Rhythm And Reds_ (1994)
- Wood, Wilson, Carthy: _Wood, Wilson, Carthy_ (1998)
- Dave Swarbrick: _Swarb!_ (2003) 4CD box set career retrospective with numerous Carthy tracks
- 4 Martins: _Guitar Nights_ (2003) released on CD and DVD

## Other websites

- Waterson:Carthy Official Website
- Martin Carthy biography on the Waterson:Carthy website
- Reinhard Zierke's unofficial website
- John Crosby's 1993 Martin Carthy biography on Reinhard Zierke's website
- BBC Folk database
- discography on Slipcue e-zine

## Infobox (musical artist)

- **name**: Martin Carthy
- **img**: Martin Carthy.JPG
- **img capt**: Carthy in 2008
- **background**: solo_singer
- **birth name**: Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy
- **origin**: Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire
- **instrument**: acoustic guitar
electric guitar
mandolin
banjo
Appalachian dulcimer, dulcimer
- **genre**: Folk Music of England, English Folk
- **occupation**: Singer
musician
songwriter
record producer
actor
- **years active**: 1960 - present
- **label**: Topic Records, Topic, Fontana Records, Fontana, Philips Records, Philips
- **associated acts**: Waterson:Carthy
Blue Murder (folk), Blue Murder
The Watersons
Steeleye Span
Albion Country Band
Brass Monkey (band), Brass Monkey
- **website**: http://www.watersoncarthy.com/