Episode 108: Eliza Carthy MBE – Trad / Prog Singer, Violinist, Solo artist, Band member, Songwriter.

If there is one musician who embodies the dynamism and vitality of the current English folk revival, it’s Eliza Carthy.
Beloved of staunch traditionalists and iconoclasts alike, Eliza’s music effortlessly crosses boundaries of genre and style. Whether performing a centuries-old ballad or a self-written song, her powerful, nuanced voice, fiercely beautiful fiddle-playing and mesmerizing live performances have influenced a whole generation of young musicians.

Eliza celebrates her 30th career anniversary in 2022, she has received the MBE; numerous BBC R2 Folk Awards; two Mercury Prize nominations; was the first English traditional musician to be nominated for a BBC R3 Award for World Music, and in 2021 became President of the English Folk Dance & Song Society.

She is without doubt, an innovator and leading light of England’s folk scene – an amazing solo artist, band member, singer, songwriter and fiddle player – and another outstanding guest on The Paul Weller Fan Podcast…

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Eliza Carthy rose to prominence in the mid-1990s both as a solo artist and a member of Waterson-Carthy, the group she formed with her parents, folk icons Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy (Martin himself played with Paul on the album True Meanings in 2018).

She has covered Paul Weller’s Wild Wood, played with him on Studio 150 and with The Imagined Village, performed live on stage for a BBC 4 session to support the release of 22 Dreams. So there are plenty of lovely stories to hear on this one.

In 2014, Eliza was awarded the MBE for services to folk music in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

In 2022, in celebration of this year being her 30^th anniversary as a professional musician, she will be releasing ‘Queen Of The Whirl’ an album of new recordings of some of her old tracks and taking it out on tour in November and December with her band The Restitution. Find out more here.

A Desperately Seeking Paul playlist of songs

A singer, songwriter, and fiddle player – Eliza discovered the music of Paul Weller through her then record label and a cover of Wild Wood selected for her LP Angels and Cigarettes.
She first played with Paul on his Studio 150 album – contributing violin to Black is the Colour and Early Morning Rain. Check out my Spotify playlist of some highlights, kicking off with those Weller connections…

2007 – John Barleycorn – Imagined Village – featuring Paul Weller

2007 saw them join up again for The Imagined Village debut album with Paul on vocals for a version of John Barleycorn.

2008 – Paul Weller & Eliza Carthy – BBC 4 Session

In 2008, Eliza joined Paul on stage for a BBC 4 session playing together on Where’er You Go and Wild Wood.

New Music from Eliza Carthy

Check out the beautiful video that Marry Waterson has made for The Snow It Melts The Soonest – the first single from Eliza Carthy’s forthcoming album, Queen Of The Whirl. The album will be released on 28th October 2022, and features newly recorded versions of some of the most beloved songs from her career. It will be released as a standard CD, Double 12” vinyl, and as a limited-edition deluxe package. Find more info and tour dates here…