Eliza Carthy: 'Musical standing doesn’t pay the bills'

For Eliza Carthy, the past year has undoubtedly been difficult. Back in January when her mother, the much-loved singer Norma Waterson, was gravely ill, Eliza and her 81-year-old father Martin Carthy found their finances so tight, due to the lack of gigs during the pandemic, that they were contemplating selling their instruments.

Thankfully, a friend’s suggestion, to launch a crowdfunding appeal, transformed their situation – something that Carthy was able to relay to her mother shortly before she died.

“One of the things about being a staple, if you like, on a particular scene is that, to put this in the nicest possible way, people get used to you being there and they think you’re all right, they think you’re perhaps more than bobbling along,” she says. “My parents, and particularly my mum, she was incapacitated for such a long time, she was unable to go out, she couldn’t go to gigs, she was cut off for more than a decade, so both of my parents really thought that everyone had forgotten about them.

“My dad has always made a point about touring the clubs, he’s never been starry, he’s never taken advantage of his rightfully legendary reputation, he’s never charged over the odds, he’s never been ‘Mr I Am’, and a result he felt like everyone had forgotten about him. One of the things that the fund did for both of my parents, in addition to giving my mum some comfort before she died, is it reminded the world and them just how much she and he are valued and treasured by a lot of people.

“There were people saying it’s shocking that people of this standing are treated in this way, but standing doesn’t pay the bills. Tens of thousands of people contributed to the fund and what we were able to do was say to my mum a couple of weeks before she died that there was a certain amount of money in the bank account now. She just looked at us and went, ‘The kids are safe, the house is safe’ and that was the very first time she’d felt like that in over a decade. And things are much better now. It still rains on us in our beds but we actually have the money now to get the roof fixed.

“We will be eternally grateful that mum was able to die with that worry taken away from her.”

The 47-year-old singer and musician intends to pay tribute to her mother when she and her father play at the Barbican in London in February. “My mum’s band, The Gift Band, is coming, we’re very much looking forward to seeing them all and playing with Neill MacColl and Kate St John,” she says. “Of course, Phil (Alexander) is in my band as well. Barney Morse-Brown is coming to play a bit of cello with us as well. We’re going to be doing some of the material from Gift and from Anchor, which was mine and mum’s last album together.

“We’ll also be doing a few bits and pieces of my dad’s to celebrate his two-year belated 80th birthday and my band, The Restitution, will be there as well as kind of a house band to pitch in.”

To commemorate her 30 years as a professional musician, Carthy has reimagined 15 tracks from across her career on a new album, Queen of the Whirl. Of the choice of material, which was suggested by fans, she says the “big surprise” was My Father’s Mansions. “I didn’t sing on the original, I’d performed that in accompaniment to Billy Bragg on an album called Where Have All The Flowers Gone?, which was a tribute to Pete Seeger who wrote the song” she says. “I did a string arrangement for it, which I’m very proud of, and Billy sang over the top. Billy and I had been working together and I’d been supporting him for a couple of years by that point. I think it was the first time I’d actually accompanied him on something.

“I was on a couple of his albums after that but I think that was the first time he’d asked me to do something, so that particular track represents my relationship with Billy over the years and our relationship with the Seeger-MacColl family as well, which is very important to our family. I was lucky to meet Pete a couple of times and Peggy is like a second mother to me, especially now mum’s gone. So I was really heartened and glad to do that one, and it’s a hell of a song to sing too because it is a diversity anthem at the end of the day, it’s all about tolerance and diversity and allowing people to occupy their own spaces and having your own door. It doesn’t matter what colour it is or whether it’s open or closed, and I love how that resonates with modern conversations, especially in light of the things that JK Rowling says online. It’s very relevant to modern discussions about gender spaces, so it feels like the right time to bring it back.”

She was also heartened that so many of her own songs were chosen “because I tend to look at my own songwriting as a bit of a poor cousin” to traditional music. “I’m glad to do my own songs, I love making contemporary albums as well, so it’s great to know that is coming back to me – things like The Company of Men but also Blood on my Boots and Mr Magnifico. Mohair is a special one for me because it’s about (my aunt) Lal Waterson, but it also mentions my mum as well. Both my mum and Lal were very ill for the last portions of their lives and Mohair talks about the fun things we could do if we were all healthy and young and happy, like let’s go on the bus down to the beach, let’s go flying, so it’s nice to be able to sing that.

“Whirly Whorl was a bit of a left-field one for me, that represents my mum’s relationship with Annie Briggs, which was wonderful, and also The Kings of Calicutt, going back to 1997. There’s so many great choices in there. For Space Girl Peggy wrote a new verse which she gave to me when we were doing the Blood and Roses tour, which represents my relationship with Ewan MacColl’s material as well and my relationship with Kate and Neill. I’m just so happy that the choices that have come out are are important to me spiritually and that actually mean something. They all clearly mean something to my fans as well. It’s a lovely feeling.”

Eliza Carthy plays at Masham Town Hall on November 23, Howard Assembly Room, Leeds on November 25 and The Greystones, Sheffield on November 27.