BONES is a collection of unreleased songs, outtakes, demos and live recordings from recent years — fingerpicked, stripped back, and left largely as they were found. It captures songs between albums, collaborations along the way, and performances that refused to disappear. Excavated bones, left intact.
The Life and Songs of Martin Carthy is a concert film celebrating six decades of one of British folk's most beloved figures — now available to stream worldwide for one month only. Featuring Billy Bragg, Graham Coxon, Eliza Carthy, Maddy Prior, John Kirkpatrick, Nick Hart, Angeline Morrison and more, this is a night of extraordinary music you won't want to miss.
I’ve been performing ‘Geordie’ on the Songs of Martin Carthy tour — this version filmed, mixed and edited at Riverhouse Barn in Walton-on-Thames. A medieval ballad in a tithe barn feels about right. The guitar is Martin Carthy’s Fylde Falstaff — one of the earliest made by Roger Bucknall, and the instrument heard across Right of Passage. The first time I played it, Martin listened, smiled, and said quietly, “She likes you.” I’ve reached for it ever since.
I’m out playing quite a bit this year — a mixture of solo shows, plus a one-off full-band date in Sheffield with The Grizzly Folk. Alongside that, I’ve also become involved in the Songs of Martin Carthy tour, which I’m genuinely delighted to be part of. The tour brings together family, friends and long-time collaborators to sing Martin’s songs, and I’ll be appearing on a number of dates. Below is the full performer listing by date and town.
Bones is a new, download-only release gathering together unreleased songs, outtakes, demos and live recordings from the last few years — things that slipped between albums or didn’t quite belong anywhere else. Seventeen tracks, left more or less as they were.
Written in 1965, ‘Blues Run the Game’ became one of the defining songs of the folk revival. This article traces Jackson C. Frank’s journey from Buffalo to Soho, his years at Les Cousins, and the New Bond Street recording session that produced the song. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, archival material, and contemporary reviews, it examines how the song emerged, how it spread rapidly through the British folk scene, and how it came to outlive its author.