Colin Randall writes: when I chose Norma Waterson as Artist of the Month, I admitted that I might have picked on any one of several family members. I think of Lal and Mike Waterson when I add that some, like Norma, are no longer with us. The frenetic efforts needed to get Salut! Folk up and running after our previous host, Typepad, abruptly announced its closure (from today) meant we had no Album or Artist of the Month for September.
So we start October with two for the price of one in the Artist of the Month category: Norma’s widower Martin Carthy and their daughter Eliza. The featured image of Waterson:Carthy from the excellent archive of Roger Liptrot’s folkimages site …
Image: David Kilpatrick
Waterson Carthy is an extraordinary folk dynasty. Of all of its member, the Watersons – quite a folk supergroup of the age, with Merseybeat moptops to boot – were the first I encountered. It was at Les Cousins,. the famous Soho folk dive, and was billed as a farewell performance. Farewells, happily, are often followed by comebacks. In any event, it was an exhilarating experience.
Her dad I first saw at a folk club in Sunderland, having persuaded a friend that by far the best way of celebrating his 21st birthday was to see Carthy and Dave Swarbrick there despite the inevitability of having to hitchkike home. Again, a tremendous performance; Mackem folkies of a certain age might know if I am right in remembering the ace American guitarist Stefan Grossman also playing that night. It is possible that my friend was less impressed.
My abiding memory of Eliza is seeing her sing a mesmerising a cappella version of North Country Maid in a north London folk club while Arsenal “fans” marked an FA Cup final win by rioting nearby.
Martin Carthy is 84, his daughter has just turned 50. In their own ways, both have kept pace with the evolution of the British folk scene. From his early days, his distinctive vocals and guitar work strongly influencing Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, he has proved an outstanding collaborator with other musicians.
He joined the Three City Four group with Leon Rosselson, Marian Mackenzie and Ralph Trainer, had two spells in Steeleye Span and one in the Albion band. He was also involved with Brass Monkey and the Imagined Village project and formed an enduring partnership with Swarb.
Waterson:Carthy was the family trio including his wife, Norma, and Eliza.
When he reached 60, Martin invited me to his home just outside Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire for a Daily Telegraph interview.
I remember him telling me he was still an accomplished guitarist in his head while, in practice, being conscious of diminished dexterity. This has not stopped him continuing to perform with distinction for the quarter-century since then. He also said he was proud of having developed into a “half-decent singer”. Martin Carthy is much more than that and folk music is fortunate to have him. Just for fun, let me add a clip of Martin as Buddy Holly.
Eliza is a fine singer and fiddler who has shown great versatility throughout her career.
On her own description a “modern English musician”, she sang from the age of 13 in the Waterdaughters, along with her mother, aunt (the late Lal Waterson) and cousin Marry. A duo with Nancy Kerr followed and she played important parts in Waterson:Carthy, Blue Murder and as fiddler for the North Yorkshire long sword-dancing Goathland Plough Stots.
Fitting recognition came in 2003 when Eliza won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Folk Singer of the Year, Best Album (Anglicana) and Best Traditional Track (Worcester City). An MBE for services to folk music came in 2014 – 16 years after her father collected the same honour – and she was appointed president of the English Folk Dance and Song Society in 2021.
Between them, and their extended family, Carthy père et fille have indeed served folk music well. They richly deserve the modest joint award of Salut! Folk Artists of the. Month.
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