Waterson:Carthy

Country of origin:

England

Type of music generally:

Traditional British Folk

Status:

Most recent recording, Holy Heathens and The Old Green Man (2006)

See also:

Topic Records' Waterson:Carthy page

Wikipedia's entry on Waterson: Carthy

Ectophiles' Guide entries for the members of Waterson:Carthy: Martin Carthy does solo work and has played with Steeleye Span and The Watersons. Norma Waterson is with The Watersons and has a 1996 solo album. Eliza Carthy plays solo and in various bands and musicians.

Comparisons:

Very like Martin Carthy's solo work or other traditional British folk. Along the same lines as Cordelia's Dad in their simple yet lovely (and with strong musicianship) presentation of traditional work. (Neile)

Covers/own material:

Traditional songs

General comments:

The group consists of Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy, her husband, and Eliza Carthy, their daughter. It's wonderful how their voices and performances come together, and how all three of them shine together. (Neile)

Comments about live performance:

i really enjoyed their live performance. i think their voices fit the music very well. yeah, maybe Norma's may have been stronger in the past, but i don't think it sounded past its prime by any means (in fact, i thought she sounded a lot like kirsty maccoll. (woj@smoe.org)

I had heard a lot of good comments about them, so I was rather disappointed to find that I was quite underwhelmed by their performance. Maybe their reputation had simply raised my expectations too high. I wasn't fond of the lead singer's voice at all, the fiddler sang well enough but I didn't care for her fiddle playing, and while I thought the high points of the performance were the tunes they chose to weight the set heavily toward songs. So what did I like? Umm...the melodeon player was pretty good. (mcurry@io.com)

Waterson: Carthy did a nice set of traditional English folk music. I wasn't overwhelmed by them, but I enjoyed their performance quite a bit. (meth@smoe.org)

I've seen waterson:carthy only once, but wholly enjoyed their set, their performance, and especially their interactions with each other, personally and musically. (Neile)

Recommended first album:

Any

Recordings:

• waterson:carthy (1994)
• common tongue (1997)
• Broken Ground (1999)
• A Dark Light (2002)
• Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand (2004)
• Holy Heathens and The Old Green Man (2006)

Release info:

1994—Topic Records—TSCD 475

Availability:

Can be found readily in the U.S. and U.K.

Ecto priority:

Highly recommended for lovers of traditional folk music. (Neile)

Group members:

Norma Waterson—vocal
Martin Carthy—vocal, guitar, mandolin
Eliza Carthy—vocal, fiddle

Produced by:

Tony Engle

Comments:

A brilliant traditional folk album, and a wonderful compilation of songs, and their voices and the way they perform the songs complement each other well. A delight! It's traditional music done in a simple, traditional way and still lively and contemporary—and the musicianship is brilliant. The album won several awards when it was released in 1994. (Neile)

Release info:

1997—Topic Records—TSCD 475

Availability:

Can be found readily in the U.S. and U.K.

Ecto priority:

Highly recommended for lovers of traditional folk music. (Neile)

Group members:

Norma Waterson—vocal
Martin Carthy—vocal, guitar, mandolin
Eliza Carthy—vocal, fiddle
Saul Rose—melodeon

Guest artists:

MacLaine Colston—hammered dulcimer
Barnaby Stradling—bass
Lal Waterson—vocals
Maria Gihooley—vocals
Mike Waterson—vocals
Eleanor Waterson—vocals

Produced by:

Tony Engle

Comments:

This is another wonderful album.The waterson:carthy family complement each others' talents well. I love their first album, and like this a lot. A couple of the songs make me hit the repeat button a lot, but the jigs and reels just don't do it for me on album. I like them live, but I seem to need to see the musicians live to enjoy the instrumentals. I love all three of their voices, though, and Martin Carthy's guitar work and Eliza Carthy's violin. Great stuff! (Neile)

Broken Ground

Release info:

1999—Topic Records—TSCD 509

Availability:

Wide in U.S. and U.K.

Ecto priority:

Highly recommended for lovers of traditional folk music. (Neile)

Group members:

Norma Waterson—triangle, vocals
Eliza Carthy—fiddle, viola, vocals
Martin Carthy—guitar, vocals
Saul Rose—melodeons, vocals

Guest artists:

Ben Ivitsky: low whistle on 1 track, viola on 1 track
The Phoenix New Orleans Parade Band:
     John Pashley—trumpet
     John Brunton—tenor sax
     Eugene Farrar—trombone
     Peter Whitehead—tuba
     Dave Stanley—snare drum
     Howard Maude—bass drum, cymbal

Produced by:

Ollie Knight

Comments:

Another wonderful album, with a quite different version of "Raggle Taggle Gipsies" than those I've heard before. The family combination is quite wonderful—all three are wonderfully talented and at home with their material. (Neile)

Holy Heathens and The Old Green Man

Release info:

2006—Topic Records—TSCD562

Availability:

Wide in U.S. and U.K.

Ecto priority:

Highly recommended for lovers of traditional folk music. (Neile)

Group members:

Norma Waterson—vocals, triangle
Eliza Carthy—vocals, fiddle, mandolin
Martin Carthy—vocals, guitar
Tim van Eyken—vocals, melodeons

Guest artists:

The Devil's Interval:
     Jim Causley—vocals
     Emily Portman—vocals
     Lauren McCormick—vocals
Martin Brinsford—percussion
Alice Kinloch—trombone, tuba
Tom Allan—trumpets
Oliver Knight—cello

Produced by:

Oliver Knight

Comments:

A pretty amazing dark and passionate Christmas album. Highly recommended if you're looking for something deeply rooted at holiday time. (Neile)