The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., started a concert series in 2020 called Homegrown at Home. These concert videos are recorded at home by the artists and presented online each Wednesday at noon (Eastern U.S. Time Zone), initially on their Facebook page and then permanently on the Library of Congress YouTube channel and website. Back in June this year, they featured the legendary Martin Carthy. He recorded the concert in Whitby, which is four miles away from his home in Robin Hood Bay.
If anyone deserves the title of Folk Legend, then Martin Carthy certainly most does. He was appointed an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 1998. He was named Folk Singer of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2002, and again in 2005 when he also won the award for Best Traditional Track. Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, who recorded their last album together in 2006, fittingly won Best Duo the following year. In 2014 he was given the Lifetime Achievement gong at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Following the concert screening, Martin was interviewed by Steve Winick. Martin covers a lot of ground over these two interviews and offers such a valuable and fascinating insight into his own life, from his early years, playing with Dave Swarbrick, Steeleye Span, The Watersons and Waterson:Carthy. He tells some wonderful stories, some are funny and others are just fascinating and moving. He’s always been very humble and quick to praise the talents of others. He’s certainly at the top of my list when it comes to folk music, and this is all just too great not to share with you all.
Martin Carthy Homegrown Concert
Interview Part 1 – Early Career
His transition from skiffle to folk | Ballads and Blues Folk Club | A.L. Lloyd | Alan Lomax | Ewan MacColl | Sam Larner | Charles River Valley Boys | Walter Pardon | Gypsy Singers | Collets Record Shop | Bob Dylan | Troubadour | Paul Simon | Scarborough Fair | Dave Swarbrick and Touring | Steeleye Span | and The Watersons
Interview Part 2
Martin talks about meeting his wife and singer Norma Waterson and how he proposed | Norma’s time living on the Caribbean island of Montserrat as a DJ for Radio Antilles | the recording of Mike and Lal Waterson’s (Norma’s brother and sister) Bright Phoebus album | Building a home on Robin Hood Bay | the birth of Eliza Carthy | Albion Country Band | singing and performing with The Watersons and their capacity for invention | forming Waterson:Carthy | Peggy Seeger | Their debut album Waterson:Carthy on Topic Records | Eliza Carthy’s playing |
More here from American Folklife Center: https://www.loc.gov/folklife/
Martin Carty Tour Dates
08/12/2021 Black Swan Folk Club, YORK
10/12/2021 Second Time Around Folk Club, BEESTON
27/01/2022 The Old Cinema Launderette, DURHAM
15/02/2022 Exeter Phoenix, EXETER
16/02/2022 Chapel Arts Centre, BATH
04/03/2022 Stonehaven Folk Club, STONEHAVEN
31/03/2022 SpArC Theatre, BISHOP’S CASTLE
01/04/2022 Huntingdon Hall, WORCESTER
03/04/2022 Lewes Con Club, LEWES
14/04/2022 Lyceum Folk Club, NEWPORT
15/04/2022 Valley Folk Club, SWANSEA
16/04/2022 Cafe Oto, LONDON
22/04/2022 Northwich Folk Club, NORTHWICH
23/04/2022 The Old Fire Station, OXFORD
24/04/2022 Vernal Equinox at the Continental, PRESTON