Martin Carthy- Desert Island Discs

[garrypbrooks]

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs. Martin Carthy. 13th Jan http://bbc.in/138oGI4

Should be interesting - anyone like to take a punt on what he might select?

[davidmjs]

Didn't think it was worth starting a new thread but here's a pic of Martin and Norma just up on FB posted by Marry Waterson.  I found it very poignant...a lovely picture yet I was also shocked at how frail they both look.

[Adam]

Just Wikipedia’d, and was surprised that Martin is 80. What a talent and family he has!

[Andy]

Norma's 82 and has suffered severe illness in the past several years.

Martin looked frail when I saw him at Swansea Uni 4 or 5 years ago.

I'm glad they're still going.

[Will S]

Martin is playing a concert locally with Eliza in a couple of weeks. Must get a ticket as who knows if it might not be the last opportunity...

[mickf]

Way back in the 70s I saw him take an absolute age to tune and retune his guitar on stage and getting more than a little bit annoyed with himself. However, I also recall seeing Martin with John Kirkpatrick in Barry about 4 or 5 years ago. He was in a talkative mood after the concert and was taken aback when I said I loved his version of 'Nothing Rhymed' from his album 'Because It's There'. Age seemed to have mellowed him. All in all he came across as a lovely man.

[DarrenWilliams]

Way back in the 70s I saw him take an absolute age to tune and retune his guitar on stage and getting more than a little bit annoyed with himself. However, I also recall seeing Martin with John Kirkpatrick in Barry about 4 or 5 years ago. He was in a talkative mood after the concert and was taken aback when I said I loved his version of 'Nothing Rhymed' from his album 'Because It's There'. Age seemed to have mellowed him. All in all he came across as a lovely man.

I also love that song, and I'd not heard the original when I first heard Martin's version. Because Its' There and Out of the Cut are two of my favourite albums of his. There's something about the guitar sound, and his singing was much less nasally than his 70s records.

I remember the first time I saw Martin Carthy was with Swarb at the Fylde Folk Festival in 1991. He was struggling to tune his mandolin and in the end just gave up and handed it to Swarb.

[mickf]

I was told by a friend that Martin's problem with tuning was due to the fact that he has 'perfect pitch', so if it is only slightly off he can hear it, even if no-one else can. I have no idea if that's true, but it would explain a lot.

[Jamie73]

Way back in the 70s I saw him take an absolute age to tune and retune his guitar on stage and getting more than a little bit annoyed with himself. However, I also recall seeing Martin with John Kirkpatrick in Barry about 4 or 5 years ago. He was in a talkative mood after the concert and was taken aback when I said I loved his version of 'Nothing Rhymed' from his album 'Because It's There'. Age seemed to have mellowed him. All in all he came across as a lovely man.

I saw him around 10 years ago in London and I sheepishly asked him at half-time if he did any requests. He asked for what and I replied "Prince Heathen", to which he went "Yeah, alright". When he started introducing the song we applauded and he shouted "Don't do that yet - it could be ****!".

[ColinB]

Eliza retweeted this a couple of days ago. They had a bit of a sing after the plaque was unveiled. There's a video clip on @angus_young61's page. It's in Hull in case you're wondering.

[Rory.]

One of the best gigs I've ever been to was about ten years ago, probably more, it was Norma and Martin with Chris Parkinson on accordion, in the old folk club that Vic and Tina Smith used to run in Lewes.

It's difficult to describe the totality of that night, the musicianship, the scale of the songs they were performing, the warmth and love from the audience, the stark perfection of the venue, it was just one of those magical evenings that I will always remember.

Norma sang with open arms and we all embraced her, I'll never forget that bond she made between the three of them and all of us.

I've seen MC with Swarb, astounding is the best word for that.

Martin Carthy on a solo gig floored an audience like I've never seen before, he did it armed only with a small bodied Martin guitar, no Les Pauls and Marshall stacks needed, no pressure wave flapping your shirt from the pa, just him and a song, albeit a long song with a body count.

[davidmjs]

Not worth starting a new thread for, but on FB just now Colin Harper has just written this.  One of two might have a few jewels in their collection that could help him?

In the early 20th century, folk music enthusiasts went bumbling around Suffolk looking for people of a certain age who might have held on to old songs... In the early 21st century, the equivalent (in this case, me) go bumbling around social media looking for people who may have held on to old cassettes of Martin Carthy BBC broadcasts...
Yes, a 'Martin Carthy at the BBC' box set is in the very earliest of stages - expressions of interest from artist and label, but nothing more than that as yet. So expect Sue Grey's report first... The chicken/egg aspect of this is to establish 'what's there'. I've already roughed out five discs of off-air material from three online sources, and I anticipate a list of BBC-held material in the next few days.
From experience of working on several similar sets, anything from roughly 2005 on is likely to be retained at the BBC; anything prior to that is a lottery. For instance, Martin's 1976 Peel session definitely survives at source, given its occasional rebroadcasts,  but it's unlikely that the other eight do (some or all of five of the other eight certainly survive in off-air form).
Where I'm hoping people around here might be able to help is with Martin's 'Folk on Two' appearances. There were 12 studio sessions and broadcasts from clubs/festivals between 1981-90, for instance. 'Folk on Two' stuff never seems to appear in the BBC database of audio survivals... but lots of people taped episodes off-air at the time and these cassettes might well be in your loft. Have a rummage - let's see if we can crowd-source a sensational tribute to the great man! 🙂