Martin Carthy

If the English folk revival of the 1960s had a single "father" and guiding spirit, then Martin Carthy was it. Carthy's influence transcends his abilities, formidable though those are -- apart from being one of the most talented acoustic guitarists, mandolinists, and general multi-instrumentalists working the folk clubs in the 1960s, he was also a powerful singer with no pretentions or affectations, and was an even more prodigious arranger and editor, with an excellent ear for traditional compositions. In particular, he was as much a scholar as a performer, and frequently went back to the notes and notebooks of folksong collectors such as Percy Grainger, scouring them for fragments that could be made whole in performance -- no second hander, he used the earliest known transcriptions and recordings of many of the oldest folksongs known in England as his source, and worked from there.



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