Martin Carthy

Budgie

I had the pleasure of seeing Martin Carthy last night in a very small venue in Derbyshire with a seating capacity of about 60 people. I've always been a big fan but had never managed to catch him live. What a fabulous experience... incredibly intimate. His story telling, playing and voice, especially his voice, is a joy. For a chap who is in his mid seventies, his voice is astonishing and mesmerising, it sounds exactly as it does on recordings. I wish I had seen him perform with Swarb but this was just ace. I would very much recommend seeing him live if you haven't before.

VimFuego

nice one, I've seen his daughter a few times now, but have yet to see the old man himself.

Budgie

Yeah Eliza's band is great fun. Martin is a national treasure I reckon.

VimFuego

I'm about to commit folk heresy here (but it's OK, I'm bigger than most folkies) but Eliza can be a bit hit or miss. Saw her 1st back in '05 with the ratcatchers and it was the 2nd best folk gig I've ever been too. I've seen her a few times when she was solo and once she was so hung over she couldn't even play her fiddle. And she was boasting about it, til I heckled her that we'd paid £15 each to see her and we'd quite like some of what we paid for (got my money back on that gig). From footage I've seen, she's got a lot more professional since then, and has some serious musical talent with her as well.

Budgie

I couldn't agree more... in fact I was at Shrewsbury festival last year and had the choice of sitting in the sun drinking ale or going to see her perform. Having seen her a few times, she is hit and miss for sure. We opted to drink ale and sit in the sun and went to see the Levellers later instead. 

VimFuego

good stuff, would love to see the levellers. I think her problem is she's trying to out bellowhead bellowhead and it just comes across as she's trying too hard. Whereas the bellowhead crew have all moved on to more traditional folk now. The 1st family of folk are in danger of getting left behind (but getting OT here, would still love to see Martin Carthy).

Budgie

Yeah indeed and definitely on the big band thing. I've seen Jon Boden before solo and I kind of prefer it from what I remember... he's at Towersey this year I think, so it'll be interesting to see what he's up to. Benji Kirkpatrick guested with the Levellers at Shrewsbury and kept up with the fiddle bit of What You Know on his bazouki twas most impressive. Folk musicians are pretty bloody impressive on the whole.

CarpeDiem

I agree with @Budgie comments on Martin Carthy. He's a good player, great at engaging the audience, and defies his age well.

Trude

I played before him on a festival bill once.  It was quite surreal as I was dragging my gear offstage to find him quietly standing in the wings with his guitar on.  We had a nice little chat before he went on to do his thing.  That's what I like about the folk scene - even the legends are generally quite unassuming and approachable.

dogload

I saw Martin Carthy a few times back in the day (the 80's!) but have always managed not to see him since. A brilliant player and interpreter of songs.

VimFuego

dogload said:

I saw Martin Carthy a few times back in the day (the 80's!) but have always managed not to see him since. A brilliant player and interpreter of songs.

that's one of the things I admire about him, he kept true to his folk roots when everyone else was doing synth pop. He kept lugging around his martin, playing to a handful of people, keeping the flame alight. It's easy being a folky now, it's almost acceptable, but he kept ploughing that lonely furrow through the 80's and 90's.