Watersons

**The Watersons** were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies. The band's original members were Norma Waterson, Mike Waterson, and Elaine known as Lal Waterson, with their cousin John Harrison from Kingston High School. They had a skiffle band in the early 1960s but moved on to playing more traditional material. They were briefly known as "the Folksons".

Their first album was Frost and Fire 1965 (awarded the Melody Maker Album of the Year, a rarity for a debut album) followed by The Watersons and A Yorkshire Garland in 1966. The Watersons split up in 1968, when Norma went to work as a disc jockey on a radio station on Montserrat.

The group reformed in 1972, with John Harrison briefly replaced by Bernie Vickers. In that year they performed and arranged the music for the Alan Plater TV Play for Today, "The Land of Green Ginger", set and filmed in Hull, and appeared in a scene filmed in the Bluebell Folk Club.

Vickers was replaced the same year by Norma's husband, Martin Carthy. This line-up recorded For Pence and Spicy Ale (1975), Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy (1977), and Green Fields (1981).

Later line-ups featured Mike Waterson's daughter Rachel Waterson, who briefly replaced Lal during a leave of absence caused by ill health in the mid-1980s, then continued to sing with the group on Lal's return. This five-piece line up performed regularly during the late 1980s and recorded a session for the BBC Andy Kershaw show in August 1986. In 1987, the group collaborated with Swan Arcade to form Blue Murder, who have performed and recorded sporadically with various line-ups to the present day. Subsequent Watersons line-ups fluctuated, featuring Eliza Carthy, Anne Waterson, Jill Pidd and Maria Gilhooley at various times, but recording only occasionally.

Lal Waterson died in 1998 and, by the early 1990s, Carthy, Norma Waterson and their daughter Eliza Carthy had formed the group Waterson–Carthy. The Watersons gradually ceased to sing live on a regular basis, but the family occasionally reconvened for special events and festival appearances, where they are usually billed as "The Waterson Family". These have included 'A Mighty River of Song' at the Royal Albert Hall on 12 May 2007, the BBC Electric Proms concert, 'Once in a Blue Moon: A Tribute to Lal Waterson', at Cecil Sharp House in London on 25 October 2007 and 'A Tribute to Bert,' a concert celebrating the life and work of Albert Lancaster Lloyd, at Cecil Sharp House on 15 November 2008. During the summer of 2009, "The Waterson Family" performed at a number of festivals and large concerts throughout England and Ireland.

Mike Waterson died on 22 June 2011, aged 70, at Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

## Links to Kershaw

Kershaw mentioned on his 07 August 1986 show that he heard the group via Billy Bragg:

> *"I probably tell you this everytime I play a Watersons song, but the person wo introduced me to their singing was Billy Bragg. He had a tape of theirs in the car when we were driving around doing those gigs and I've never realised voices alone can make such a fine racket and such big chords. This is for you Billy, darling they're playing our tune, The Watersons and Jolly Waggoner."* [1]
>
>

Through the work of the Watersons, Kershaw got to know the solo projects of some of its members, and liked them enough to invite them to do sessions for his programmes, which they did.

## Sessions

1. Recorded: 1986-07-17. First Broadcast: 07 August 1986. Repeated: 11 September 1986, 12 February 1987, 03 September 1987

* The Jolly Waggoner / The Prickle Holly Bush / The King's Song / Young Banker

2. Recorded: 1988-01-28. First Broadcast: 18 February 1988. Repeated: 07 April 1988

* The Derby Ram / Adieu Adieu ('The Flash Lad') / The Poacher's Lament

3. Recorded as Martin Carthy And The Watersons: unknown. First Broadcast: 29 January 1995

* Jacob’s Well / The Mickey Dam / The Swallow / Seventeen Come Sunday

## Other Shows Played

1985
* 17 August 1985: The Thirty Foot Trailer
* 12 December 1985: Brave Wolfe

1993
* 12 June 1993: Apple Tree Wassail (CD - For Pence And Spicy Ale) Topic

1999
* 10 June 1999: Brave Wolfe (CD - Early Days) Topic

2003
* 07 December 2003: Brave General Wolfe (4xCD - Mighty River Of Song) Topic
* 14 December 2003: The Thirty-Foot Trailer (CD - Mighty River Of Song) Topic

2004
* 19 December 2004: Brave Wolfe (CD - Early Days) Topic

2023
* Andy Kershaw Podcast Episode 25: Country Life (album - For Pence And Spicy Ale) Topic

## External Links

* Wikipedia
* Discogs