Editing Martin Carthy (section)

==Early life==
Carthy was born in [[Hatfield, Hertfordshire]], England,<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=236}}</ref> and grew up in [[Hampstead]], North West London. His mother was an active socialist and his father, from a family of [[River Thames]] [[lightermen]], went to grammar school and became a [[trade unionist]] and a [[councillor]] for [[Stepney]] at the age of 21. Martin's father had played [[fiddle]] and guitar as a young man but Martin was unaware of this connection to his folk music heritage until much later in life. His vocal and musical training began when he became a chorister at the [[Savoy Chapel|Queen's Chapel of The Savoy]].<ref name="Wilks">{{Cite web|last=Wilks|first=Jon|date=28 February 2018|title=The Martin Carthy Interview|url=https://tradfolk.co/music/music-interviews/martin-carthy/|access-date=9 February 2022|website=Tradfolk|language=en-GB}}</ref>

He picked up his father's old guitar for the first time after hearing "[[Rock Island Line]]" by [[Lonnie Donegan]]. He has cited his first major folk music influences as [[Big Bill Broonzy]]<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Tradfolk|first=Jon|last=Wilks|date=24 September 2023|title=Not-so-rapid-fire questions with Martin Carthy|url=https://tradfolk.co/customs/customs-interviews/not-so-rapid-fire-questions-with-martin-carthy/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://folklondon.co.uk/2021/05/martin-carthy-at-80-trial-and-error-ive-built-an-entire-career-on-it/ | title=Martin Carthy at 80: 'Trial and error? I've built an entire career on it' | date=26 May 2021 }}</ref> and the syncopated guitar style of [[Elizabeth Cotten]].{{cn|date=January 2025}} Carthy performed his first professional engagement at the age of 16 at The Loft, a coffee bar in Primrose Gardens.<ref name="desert">Interview on BBC Radio 4's ''Desert Island Discs'' broadcast 13 January 2013</ref> Although his father wanted him to go to university to study classics, Carthy left school at 17 and worked behind the scenes as a prompter at the open-air theatre in [[Regent's Park]], then as an assistant stage manager (ASM) on a tour of ''[[The Merry Widow]]'', and then at [[Stephen Joseph Theatre|Theatre in the Round]] in [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Martin|last=Carthy|title=Martin Carthy:  A Guitar in Folk Music|date=1987|publisher=New Punchbowl Music|location=Petersham, Surrey, UK|page=5}}</ref> He became a resident at the [[Troubadour (London nightclub)|Troubadour]] folk club in [[Earl's Court]] in the early 1960s after his friend Robin Hall persuaded him to visit and listen to the piper Seamus Ennis.<ref name="Wilks"/> Carthy joined Redd Sullivan's Thameside Four in 1961 as a [[skiffle]] guitarist and singer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mainlynorfolk.info/martin.carthy/biography.html|title=Martin Carthy: Biography|website=mainlynorfolk.info}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/redd-sullivan-mn0001392245|title=Redd Sullivan &#124; Biography & History|website=AllMusic}}</ref>

In the early 1960s, Carthy visited [[Ewan MacColl|Ewan MacColl's]] Ballads & Blues club to watch a friend, the singer [[Roy Guest]]. The main performer that night was [[Sam Larner]]. Carthy has since described how Larner's performance of "[[Henry Martin (song)|Lofty Tall Ship]]" altered his perception of how a traditional folk song could be sung, and how it was a key moment in his own development as an artist.<ref name="Wilks"/>

When American singer [[Bob Dylan]] arrived in London for the first time in 1962 to perform in ''[[Madhouse on Castle Street]]'', he visited Martin Carthy at the Troubadour, The King & Queen, and The Singers Club.<ref name="Wilks"/> He learned the traditional song "[[Scarborough Fair (ballad)|Scarborough Fair]]" from Carthy, which he later developed into his own song "[[Girl from the North Country]]".

In 1963 (possibly to 1964) on one or probably multiple occasions he recorded or contributed to 14 songs in front of a live television audience for the UK regional television folk and blues music series [[Hullabaloo (British TV series)|Hullabaloo]], presented by the Scottish folksinger [[Rory McEwen (artist)|Rory McEwen]]; these sessions were released on DVD in 2020.<ref name="mainlynorfolk">{{cite web|url=https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/records/hullabaloo.html|title=Hullabaloo|website=Mainly Norfolk|access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref>