An Introduction To

Describing herself simply as a 'modern English musician' Eliza Carthy, has been touring on and off since the age of fourteen and first appeared on record in 1990 as a member of The Mrs Ackroyd Band alongside such notables as Les Barker, June Tabor and her father Martin Carthy. After two collaborative recordings with Nancy Kerr, she released her first solo album Heat, Light & Sound, for Topic Records in 1996, a selection of traditional songs, two of which open this new selection of her work which is drawn entirely from her solo recordings for the label and closing with a track from 2017's Big Machine album.

To describe Eliza Carthy as prolific simply doesn't do justice to her tireless touring and recording which aside from her solo work includes recordings with parents Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson in Waterson:Carthy, and acclaimed albums with each of them (The Gift and The Moral of the Elephant), plus the Imagined Village and countless others, most recently teaming up Tim Ericksen and with fellow fiddlers Bella Hardy, Lucy Farrell and Kate Young.

An Introduction To Eliza Carthy may be a mere snapshot of Eliza Carthy's cram-packed career, focussing as it does on her individual recordings for Topic, but it certainly underlines the indelible impression she has made - not just on folk music - but on modern music per se. Like any good 'introduction' it will also leave you wanting more.