Martin Carthy's Geordie: Performed on His Fylde Falstaff Guitar

About the song

'Geordie' remains one of the most haunting English ballads, catalogued by Francis James Child as No. 209 in his definitive anthology. The narrative follows a woman riding to London to plead for the life of her condemned husband - a cattle thief in the older Scottish variants, or a poacher of the King's white deer in the English tradition.

While the earliest printed broadsides link the song to the historical George Stoole of Northumberland, executed in 1610, the ballad evolved through centuries of oral tradition. It travelled across the UK in dozens of variants, eventually being distilled into its most evocative form in the West Country. In 1908, folk collector Cecil Sharp noted a particularly spare and direct version from a Somerset singer - one defined by its "misty morning" opening and the "golden chain" imagery - that became the cornerstone of Martin Carthy's repertoire and a staple of the modern folk revival.

Martin Carthy first brought his singular focus to ‘Geordie’ during a John Peel session in February 1974. While he would later commit a definitive version to his 1976 album Crown of Horn, that early BBC performance captured the start of a half-century obsession.

By the time he revisited the ballad on his 1998 album Signs of Life, the song had transformed. Where the younger Carthy delivered it with a driving, percussive urgency, the later version is more spacious and contemplative - a testament to how a great song ages alongside the singer. The fact that ‘Geordie’ has remained a cornerstone of his repertoire for over 50 years speaks volumes about its enduring hold on his imagination.

About the guitar

I've been performing 'Geordie' during the Songs of Martin Carthy tour recently (see the video above). This was filmed, mixed and edited by the good people at Riverhouse Barn, Walton-on-Thames. What a gorgeous venue that is! Medieval folk songs are best performed in medieval tithe barns, don't you think?

The guitar is Martin Carthy's Fylde. It's rather a unique instrument - one of the first Falstaff models that Roger Bucknall at Fylde made. Martin used it a lot on his Right of Passage album - songs like 'Bill Norrie' and 'Dominion of the Sword'.

When I first went to visit Martin in Robin Hood's Bay, he had his Martin guitars out and he was rehearsing on them. The Fylde was sitting in the corner so I asked if I could have a go. He said of course I could, so I started playing something on it - I forget what. Martin listened intently and then he smiled, leaned forward and almost whispered, "She likes you".

Whenever I've been back, I reach for that one, because I like her too.

You can hear Martin talking about the history of the guitar here.

About the tuning

Martin's approach to English traditional song is inseparable from his tuning. DADGAD wasn't right for him - it pushes you towards the top strings, and Martin wanted to work on the lower and middle strings, often higher up the neck where the tone suited him better. So he spent a night in his flat working through alternatives until he arrived at DADEAE - and then kept refining from there. 'Geordie', as he recorded it on Crown of Horn, is in DADEAB, and that's the tuning I'm using here, with a capo on the second fret. Over the years, as his voice has dropped, he's brought the whole thing down further still - he'd play it in CGCDGA now.

It's a style that changed the way a generation of guitarists thought about English folk music, and you can hear exactly why on this recording. What you're hearing is a song that has been in continuous circulation for over four centuries - and a guitar with a bit of history of its own.