Martin Carthy (1965)
14 tracks, 40 minutes
Spotify • iTunes
I was already familiar with Martin Cathy by the time I heard this album. I knew he was a legendary English folk singer and musician just through the music scenes in which I ran; I was involved in the London folk scene by then too, and there were so many times that singers credit Carthy as the first time they heard a certain song; I’d even seen him live with the Imagined Village quite a few times. But I don’t think I’d ever really taken time to sit down and listen to his solo work. So when I did finally get to this one, lent to me by my mate Stephen, I was expecting it to be good, but it utterly blew me away.
This was Martin Carthy’s debut album, and it is stunning. The songs he sings are so well-chosen, and his voice is so subtle, making every small ornament of the melody ooze with emotion. He grips you into the songs and their stories. The first time I listened to this album’s version of ‘The Trees They Do Grow High,’ the conclusion of the sorry tale gave me shivers. To make a listener so invested in a story that seems old as Albion and in just three-and-a-half minutes is both a testament to the English folk tradition and Carthy’s interpretations of it. The musicianship is also important to mention: Carthy’s guitar is a lovely mix of English-style playing with cues from blues and American folk music, and he’s joined by Dave Swarbrick’s impressive and usually jaunty fiddle and mandolin.
He was only 24 when he made this record, but he sounds much older. Not just in his voice (although it does seem aged like a gnarled oak), but in its accomplishment: he already sounds like an old master, in the pieces he chooses and the way he wraps his voice around them. A lot of these pieces were fairly obscure when this record was released – now they’re all well-loved standards. Its influence echoed far and wide. Not only was it one of the most important records of the English folk revival that still brings people to the scene even now, but it also influenced abroad: Simon and Garfunkel’s version of ‘Scarborough Fair’ was directly taken from Martin Carthy, and the record was a profound influence on Bob Dylan too.
Folk music is particularly enduring in part I think because it has already survived so long; many of these songs are centuries old, so they must have some sort of universality that keeps them relevant across many different generations and cultural shifts. While there are some songs on this set that are rightfully dropping out of current use (such as the very rapey but unfortunately catchy ‘Two Magicians’), this album retains a timelessness that no doubt contributes to its on-going popularity and influence, that I am sure will last a long time yet.
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