Eliza Carthy | Official Website | New Album Neptune out 9th May 2011

Projects

Norma Waterson and Eliza Carthy with The Gift Band

Norma Waterson and Eliza Carthy are not simply two of the country's finest exponents of traditional song. With their rich, distinctive and authentic voices, mother and daughter have effortlessly engaged new audiences and admirers across two generations. Between them, Norma and Eliza have 3 Mercury Prize nominations and have both been presented with BBC Folk Singer of the Year awards (Norma in 2001, Eliza in 2003), as well as innumerable other accolades.

Although they have recorded together on many occasions over the years, THE GIFT is Norma and Eliza's first, much anticipated, duo release which will be supported by a major landmark tour. Norma and Eliza will be touring as a six piece band including Martin Carthy. They will be performing traditional classics as well as some unexpected gems. Norma Waterson & Eliza Carthy bring all these songs to life, no matter what the origin, with their wonderfully versatile and compassionate voices.

Eliza Carthy & Band

This is the fantastic NEW ELIZA CARTHY BAND that has been touring for the last year promoting the New Album 'DREAMS OF BREATHING UNDERWATER'

Emma Smith is a diverse musician and double bass player. She is comfortable in many styles including folk – both British and Latin American, flamenco, pure improvisation, Cuban Son, classical, rock, pop and electronic. Her various trips around the musical block have found her writing soundtracks, arranging string sections, and miming on TV. She has a degree from the Royal College of Music and teaches at the City of Edinburgh Music School.

CELLO – Beth Porter: Bethany graduated from Bath Spa University in 2003 with a degree in Dance & Music, where she studied cello with Ruth Zagni. Since then she has integrated into the South West music scene and toured nationally and internationally with many different groups and projects ranging from classical to drum and bass. She has played with artists such as Bellowhead (Radio 2 Folk Award Winners), Peter Gabriel, Reg Meuross and Newton Faulkner, and has recorded with many projects including Jackie Oates, Kula Shaker, Get The Blessing (BBC Jazz Award Winners), Jim Moray and John Parish. Bethany has also created music for many short films/animations, including a community project with The Welsh National Opera, and regularly returns to Bath Spa University to improvise for dance workshops. She plays and arranges music for The Stringbeans Quartet and Bath Spa String Quartet and is currently working on her own material, writing and recording a mixture of songs and instrumentals.

Phil ALEXANDER was born in London. He has a first in music from Goldsmiths College, where he studied with avant-garde guru John Tilbury. His musical experience ranges from folk to jazz to contemporary classical, but his main love is exploring the different realms of world music, in particular how genres can be brought together (often in unlikely and decidedly non-purist ways). In Edinburgh Phil currently leads the klezmer-ish Moishe's Bagel and plays piano with internationally-acclaimed Salsa Celtica, whilst his compositions have featured on London’s South Bank and at Edinburgh's Queen's Hall. Happiest leading the action from the middle, Phil’s driving style and creative insight is the glue that brings a band together.

Willy Molleson was born 1973 in High Wycombe and grew up in Edinburgh. He has been playing the drums since he was 4 years old, starting on a set of Ugandan tribal drums. He has played in over 100 Bands and many great gigs including Glastonbury Main Stage, The Mercury Awards, The Conan O'Brian show in New York, The Barbican in London and to 200.000 people in Glasgow Green.

Amongst others he played with Kith and Kin (early days with his brothers), Freshly Squeezed (9 piece jazz hip hop), The Peatbog Fearies (their first drummer), Basic Collective (with Niki King), The Spirit Merchants (Great players from Canada), Nuns n Moses (very silly but very good), Bogus (quality acoustic hip hop with his good friends Nik, Si and Frosty), The Christa Hughes Explosion (Full frontal supersonic funk rock fronted by often naked Australian powerhouse singer), The 4 stroke 5 (‘very short lived but excellent follow up to Bogus’), Green Juice (Danger Jazz with the cream of Scottish players), Killer Shark (The current incarnation of Green Juice), The Eliza Carthy Band (‘That girl can play’), The Alvas (‘unfortunately currently ceased trading but made some great music’). He is currently working with Eliza Carthy, The Mike Kearney Trio, Chris Bradley, Ross Galloway, The Loveboat Big Band, Killer Shark, The Groovediggaz, Diwan and Andi Neate.

Willy says -‘So it's an ongoing story for me. I still love playing music after 30 years and look forward to another 30. Don't stop til you get enough..

Waterson : Carthy

For more than 30 years Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy have been at the forefront of the English folk scene. Joined by their daughter, Eliza Carthy as well as returning original member melodeon player Saul Rose, together they form Waterson:Carthy, one of Britain's most successful and influential folk bands. Waterson:Carthy's highly entertaining and inspiring live shows were described by The Times as being 'Like the last night of the proms, only without the silly flags'.

Visit Waterson : Carthy Website

Imagined Village

One of the many colloborative projects that Eliza has been involved with over the years, the latest, The Imagined Village, is the brainchild of producer and musician Simon Emmerson. Here, old traditions are recast in the shape of the twenty-first century, mixing ancient and modern, fusing fiddles and squeezebox with dub beats and sitars. The Imagined Village album (Realworld) also features Martin Carthy, Sheila Chandra, Billy Bragg, Paul Weller, Tunng, Transglobal Underground and Benjamin Zephaniah among others.

Visit Imagined Village Website

Eliza Carthy & Saul Rose

Saul Rose is one of the country's finest Melodeon players and a rapidly developing singer. He's played melodeon for almost a quarter of a century! Saul works with lots of different line ups when away from Faustus and is usually busy playing somewhere... You can catch up with his whereabouts at: www.myspace.com/saulrose

Eliza Carthy & The 3/2 Five

The 3/2 Five developed out of a few shows that were played in 2007. The first was a gig at The Sage, Gateshead where Eliza's duo with Saul Rose was augmented to form CCR (Carthy, Curran, Rose). The Second "C", Aidan Curran of The Park Bench Social Club, is a bluegrass musician from Vancouver Island who is now settled in Newcastle. The trio extended Eliza and Saul's previous repertoire with Aidan's Guitar, Vocal and Mandolin skills as well as introducing re-worked bluegrass and mountain songs from Aidan's own experience. The fouth member of the 3/2 Five is Drummer Tom Wright (Glorystrokes). A mutual friend of the others, Tom played with them at Eliza's "Eliza Carthy and Friends" show at Sidmouth Festival 2007. This show also included Performances from Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy. From then on plans were made to start work on the new project.

The four took to the stage again at Whitby 2007 to perform the spectacular "Abba Ceilidh". Joined by Martin Carthy, Spires and Boden, Sam Pert (422) and Nigel Holmes (Glorystrokes, Hekety, Trinculo) they made quite a spectacle in front of a thousand people in Whitby's pavilion.

What the Hell does "3/2 Five" mean I hear you say?
Well, a "3/2 Five" is, quite simply, a high-five that you share with someone just after performing or hearing a particularly good 3/2 tune! If anyone watches the TV Show "Scrubs" the relevance falls into place even more.

The 3/2 Five's material sees the members of the band performing exciting, up-beat and mature pieces drawing influence from areas less trodden by the Quartet thus far. Jazz, Soul, Funk and Gospel feels are combined with the fusion of English and American music, both traditional and contemporary.