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 pageWikipedia'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)
waterson:carthy
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)
common tongue
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)
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