While the musical piracy community has been in mourning over the loss of Napster, the folk ring has had reason to rejoice. The “Carthy Chronicles” have arrived – and about time too. Free Reed was responsible for the Peter Bellamy celebration a year or so ago, and has weaved its same magic, but this time over the career of a living performer, the extraordinary traditional singer and guitarist, Martin Carthy MBE. I have been looking at the website which again is a mirror of the CD-Rom content that comes with the four-CD package. Except this time the CD-Rom only comes with the first 5,000 copies.
Its centrepiece is an article by Colin Irwin chronicling Carthy’s career and lavishly illustrated with photographs of, for example, his first steps, and somewhat more folk-related events such as appearances with artists including Dave Swarbrick, Cyril Tawney and even Bob Dylan. Irwin’s fascinating biography is both readable and thorough, exploring Carthy's family background, some early coincidences that set him on the right road – what exactly were the chances of the lad with a skiffle group in the year above him at school being the son of A L Lloyd? – and the turning point as far as traditional singing was concerned, an evening in 1958 listening to 80-year-old Sam Larner at Ewan MacColl’s Ballad & Blues club.
It also looks at the development of his unique guitar style, the meeting with Strawb – I could go on but you really must read it. And of course the irony is, as Irwin points out at the beginning of the article, and which you will know if you have ever met Martin Carthy: “the very idea of self-congratulation or smug satisfaction is anathema to a man who has wielded more influence over the course of British folk music – and many territories far beyond – than anyone else over the last 30 years.” But Carthy’s “intense passion” for traditional song never fails to shine through his performances, his conversation, and indeed this biography and the “Carthy Chronicles” package as a whole. There is a superb timeline, under construction when I saw a preview, but hopefully on air by the time you are reading this, illustrated with Carthy’s album sleeves and summarising key events in his career. Who would have thought that when he replaced Wally Whyton in the Thamesiders in 1961 he would have such an extraordinary and important career ahead of him? And what a way to pay tribute to the man for his 60th birthday.
I don’t think my memory is playing tricks on me when I say I used to see Carthy play – with Swarb – at Ewell Folk Club in the late Sixties. And I have definitely been a fan of John Martyn since seeing him play at the same club. I was still at school then and we used to pack into a little room at the back of the King William IV and along with my mates I’d be knocked out by the amazing guitarists who would play there each week. Later on, around 1970, I heard Martyn use the Echoplex at Les Cousins and he just blew me away. That year’s “Road To Ruin” was to some extent a disappointment because it failed to generate that energy he produced live, opting instead for somewhat sanitized jazz arrangements. It wasn’t until the mid-Seventies that the “Live At Leeds” album allowed me to relive that moment sitting on a pew in a Soho basement when a whole new world of possibilities for the guitar were revealed to me.
In case you are wondering what has brought all this on, for my umpteenth birthday, my grandson bought me a ticket to go and see John Martyn at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon – not bad for 11 months old! – and of course before I went I did a quick search and stumbled upon John Hillarby’s “official” John Martyn Website. There is a wealth of information about “Big John”, including contributions from other fans, interviews with some of the people he has worked with and a regularly updated news page. The site has a superb discography, with quite lengthy anecdotes about each album as well as track listings. John Hillarby has been developing the site since July 1999 as a hobby, as he wasn’t happy with what he had found on the Web, so decided to do his own site. It was adopted by John Martyn, who has been working quite closely with him, about a year ago. But they are both keen to have as much input from outside as possible, giving the site quite a community feel, with reviews, stories and an excellent set of guitar tabs.
“Sara and Debs” have a similar thing going on with their official June Tabor site. Somewhat less sophisticated, it is still a useful resource if you want to learn a bit more about this fantastic singer. Or if you like looking at photographs of cats and dogs! Can it really have been as long ago as 1977 that I was knocked out by “Ashes and Diamonds”? If it is sophistication you want, then try the 12 Bar Club’s site. This extraordinary little club, tucked away behind a guitar shop on Tin Pan Alley – Denmark Street in London’s West End – is a wonderful venue that brings together the best of the new wave of acoustic acts, such as Brothers Falloon and Mouse, with the greats, such as Davey Graham, Wizz Jones and Steve Tilston – whose daughter Martha incidentally is one half of the aforementioned Mouse. I guarantee you will be hearing a lot more about this acoustic duo over the next year. The website is a bit “bells and whistles”, but don’t be put off by it offering to download Flash software, because as well as giving you information about forthcoming gigs, you get the opportunity to see and hear the acts on its webcasts every night at 8.30.
To finish, an exciting discovery I made recently. Now it seems to have shed its ridiculous “virtual announcer” concept, I don’t mind recommending Ananova as a useful source of up-to-date news. Even better, it has a folk section. Just go to the Entertainments section and click on Folk/World music. While writing this, the headlines include tours by Bert Jansch, June Tabor and Cathryn Craig, a solo career for Cara Dillon and a new CD by Sally Barker, so someone there seems to know what they are doing.
And I’m sure it isn’t Ananova herself!