Eliza Carthy

’Eliza Carthy is one of the figureheads of the English folk revival … compelling’ – Evening Standard

‘A gloriously natural singer’ – Q magazine

‘Seriously impressive’ – Telegraph

Nominated for Singer of the Year, Best Album and Best Original Song for ‘Mr Magnifico’ in BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2009.

Eliza Carthy is winner of 2 Mercury Prize nominations and innumerable other accolades over a 16 year career. Eliza has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists from Paul Weller to The Wainwrights, Billy Bragg, Nick Cave to Joan Baez. Eliza featured on vocals of 2008’s

BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winning track ‘Cold Hailey Rainy Night’ by the Imagined Village which picked up the award for ‘Best Traditional Track’ and will be featured heavily in the new album released in January 2010.

A truly inventive and innovative singer and fiddle-player, Eliza is a gifted musical conceptualist confirming her position as, arguably, the most impressive and engaging performer of a generation. With venues as wide ranging as Glastonbury Pyramid Stage in 1999 (for which Michael Eavis claimed he discovered her) to International Festivals to smaller intimate venues Eliza is always capable of delighting and captivating a diverse audience.

Eliza is also the winner of an unrivalled seven BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. In 2003 she became the first traditional English musician to be nominated a BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music (for Anglicana).

For her latest tour Eliza will be accompanied by Willie Molleson on drums, Emma Smith on double bass, Barney Morse-Brown (Duotone) and Phil Alexander (Salsa Celtica) on keyboards/piano accordion. Powerful, vital and exuberant rhythms absorbed from her travels around the globe, characterize this highly original, self-penned music taken largely from her acclaimed 2008 Album, ‘Dreams of Breathing Underwater’.

Yorkshire-born and now Edinburgh based, Eliza Carthy grew up immersed in the world of traditional music. She divides her time between touring and recording with her legendary parents, Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, and numerous pioneering solo and band projects. Recent collaborations have seen Eliza work with Ed Harcourt and Patrick Wolf. She was also co-presenter on the Mark Radcliffe Show on Radio 2 which won a Sony Award.

Describing herself simply as a ‘modern British musician’, Eliza Carthy is only just beginning to reach the height of her musical powers. During a 16-year career she has become one of the most dazzling and recognised folk musicians of a generation. She has revitalised and made folk music relevant to new audiences and has captured the most hardened of dissenters with intelligent, charismatic and boundary-crossing performance.