Not many artists receive a standing ovation before playing a single note – but when Martin Carthy, the 84 year-old hero of English folk music, graced the stage of EartH, Hackney on Saturday, 27th September, his entrance was enough to bring the packed venue to its feet. The occasion, a joint collaboration overseen by Eliza Carthy and Jon Wilks, marked the musician\u2019s six-decade career with an uplifting tribute concert of epic scope.<\/p>\n
A cavalcade of musical royalty, including Billy Bragg, Graham Coxon<\/a> and Maddy Prior, plus a cast of performers from across the traditional sphere, joined forces to honour the singer and guitarist\u2019s achievements. Whilst an in-depth knowledge of the English folk scene isn\u2019t crucial to understanding the impact of Carthy\u2019s legacy, a recognition of his accommodating spirit and generosity certainly is. Divided into three chronological parts, what lay in store was a sophisticated assortment of songs, stories and tunes, with each number highlighting a different milestone in Carthy\u2019s life – from his early days as as an up-and-coming folk troubadour on the sixties London scene to his key role in pioneering acts such as Steeleye Span and Brass Monkey.<\/p>\n Martin Carthy (Patrick Smith)<\/p>\n For the unstoppable Carthy, folk music has always been an unpretentious and collaborative affair. Nowhere was this notion clearer than on the stage of the restored Art Deco cinema, which had been transformed into a village pub (dubbed \u2018The North Country Maid\u2019) for the night. Behind the honoree sat the performers, eagerly awaiting their turn with various pints of golden liquid not far off.<\/p>\n For some, respite could only be earned once they had risen to sing: take Bristol-based Nick Hart, easily one of the evening\u2019s peaks, who had been tasked with interpreting \u2018The Famous Flower of Serving Men\u2019, or, as he put it, \u201ca by-word for a very long ballad.\u201d Other early highlights came from Olivia Chaney, the ethereal songstress who took the traditional \u2018Sovay\u2019 to new heights, as well as Coxon, whose electric guitar sweeps added a touch of frost to the timeless \u2018Scarborough Fair\u2019.<\/p>\n Graham Coxon and Martin Carthy (Patrick Smith)<\/p>\n All aspects of Carthy’s lengthy endeavours were covered. From his first encounter with skiffle music by way of Lonnie Donegan\u2019s \u2018Rock Island Line\u2019 to his work with The Imagined Village project, the audience were convincingly reminded of the musician\u2019s stamp on English culture – there was even time for a specially arranged performance courtesy of the Hammersmith Morris Men, complete with handkerchiefs and leapfrogging. Further afield, the interval provided refreshing well-wishes from friends who couldn\u2019t be there in person. Video messages came in from KT Tunstall, Robert Plant <\/a>and Paul Weller – but it was a candidly rare appearance from Bob Dylan, who had tracked down Carthy during his first visit to the UK in 1961, that brought gasps from the crowd.<\/p>\n Amidst the rousing cheers for the Women\u2019s Rugby champions and some emotional, last-minute singalongs, it was hard to imagine a more fitting expression of appreciation for this national treasure. Thanks to promoter Broadside Hacks – the driving force behind much of the current folk revival in and around the capital – the evening was on every level a spectacle of heart-warming tales and jaw-dropping coups. And of course, there was Carthy himself: a man of quiet dignity, content to sit back and enjoy hearing the soundtrack of his life unfold. His parting words, \u201cthis music is for all of you,\u201d made it passionately clear. This tradition remains alive and well.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Not many artists receive a standing ovation before playing a single note – but when Martin Carthy, the 84 year-old hero of English folk music, graced the stage of EartH, Hackney on Saturday, 27th September, his entrance was enough to bring the packed venue to its feet. The occasion, a joint collaboration overseen by Eliza […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2072460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[388557,357626,350225,388554,388556,367966,388555,357776],"class_list":["post-2072459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-billy-bragg","tag-eliza-carthy","tag-english-folk-music","tag-graham-coxon","tag-maddy-prior","tag-martin-carthy","tag-patrick-smith","tag-standing-ovation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Bob-Dylans-appearance-drew-gasps-at-tribute-to-English-folk.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2072459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2072461,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072459\/revisions\/2072461"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2072460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2072459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2072459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2072459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/span><\/div>\n
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