Master craftsman Carthy rolls back the years

9:16am Thursday 12th April 2007

Martin Carthy The Topic Folk Club at The Cock & Bottle, Bradford Fifty years after his debut at the Topic Folk Club, Martin Carthy remains a powerful voice on the English folk circuit, his mission to keep traditional songs fresh and relevant as strong as ever.

In two hour-long sets at The Cock & Bottle he covered everything from a 17th century royal lament to an indictment of Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands war, with a healthy sprinkling of ballads about murder, wagers, philandering, highwaymen and poachers thrown in.

The ghostly tale Sailor By My Right was particularly good, as was the macabre John Barleycorn, but he could raise a smile too with between-song banter about cribbing songs in Sixties coffee shops and the menacing instruction of singing miner Geordie Hamilton to memorize his party piece Bonny Woodhall ("Learn it!").

Throughout Carthy's guitar-playing was light and sparse, with subtle shifts towards a more percussive style in the later numbers.

The highlight though was saved till last - an encore of The Devil and the Feathery Wife, a humorous Faustian tale that brought loud applause from a sell-out house.

Tonight's guest at the Topic Folk Club is Steve Tilston. The concert starts at 8.30pm. Tickets on the door.

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