When: 7.30pm on Friday 6 March 2025
Where: New Mills Art Theatre, Jodrell St, New Mills, High Peak SK22 3HJ

We’re delighted to welcome Mercury Prize-shortlisted Martin Carthy to the Art Theatre in New Mills!

National treasure Martin Carthy is a legendary ballad singer and guitarist who has influenced generations of artists, including Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. In recognition of his illustrious career Martin has recently been shortlisted for the 2025 Mercury Price for his wonderful new solo record Transform Me Then Into A Fish.

This album both marks his 84th birthday in May 2025, and offers a full circle moment in his music journey as he revisits material from his very first (eponymous) solo record released in 1965.

A sold out celebratory Life & Songs Of Martin Carthy concert at EartH London on Sept 27th 2025 saw folk music’s best loved figure being honoured by a stellar line-up of artists from Billy Bragg and Graham Coxon to Angeline Morrison and The Goblin Band, playing songs from his back catalogue, marking every era from skiffle and his Soho folk revival days to Steeleye Span, The Watersons, Brass Monkey and collaborations with Dave Swarbrick, John Kirkpatrick and Imagined Village. He also received video messages and accolades from Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Robert Plant, Paul Weller, KT Tunstall, Jools Holland and more. Martin is one in a million, and it was glorious to see him feel the love and appreciation for him and his profound influence on so many musicians.

In his live show, Martin draws from an eclectic range of songs and tunes from his vast repertoire, drawing from the traditional canon as well as some . Martin will be joined by a very special guest to be announced soon.

For almost 60 years, Martin Carthy has been one of folk music’s greatest innovators, one of its best loved, most enthusiastic and, at times, most quietly controversial of figures. His skill, stage presence and natural charm have won him many admirers, not only from within the folk scene, but also far beyond it.

Trailblazing musical partnerships with, amongst others, Steeleye Span, Dave Swarbrick and his award-winning wife (Norma Waterson) and daughter Eliza Carthy have resulted in more than 40 albums, as well as eleven solo albums. Whether in the folk clubs, on the concert stage or making TV appearances, there are few roles that Martin Carthy hasn’t played. A ballad singer, a ground-breaking acoustic and electric-guitarist and an authoritative interpreter of newly composed material. He always prefers to follow an insatiable musical curiosity rather than cash in on his unrivalled position.

Perhaps, most significant of all, are his settings of traditional songs with guitar, which have influenced a generation of artists, including Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, on both sides of the Atlantic.

‘Arguably the greatest English folk song performer, writer, collector and editor of them all’ – Q Magazine

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