Waiting for Angels

A new CD from Martin Carthy is more than an album release, it's a folk music event. From championing the source singers and the revivalists, he's grown to become the leading figure of British folk music, a singer and guitarist of stunning renown and ability. And there's little here to detract from that; instead, his song choices and performances simply bolster it. Now in his sixties, he doesn't possess the power and fire he had when younger, but he knows how to use the tools at his disposal, and his constant striving to strip a song down and find its essence finds its mark perfectly here, especially on the epic "Famous Flower of Serving Men," a ballad he first recorded decades ago. It's remained in his set since and, comparing this with his earlier version, it's apparent how much he's changed it. It's still a remarkable piece, but here it speaks as eloquently through its spaces as its words (with full kudos to the producers, Carthy's daughter Eliza and Ben Ivitsky). Carthy has always been a superb ballad singer, and on "James Hatley" he does it again, finding a superb song and letting it speak for itself. The arrangements are kept deliberately spare — simple frames for the man himself, his guitar and vocal work integrated to an astonishing degree. He lets himself go on "The Harry Lime Theme," an instrumental that's long been in his live set, but played with a beauty that goes beyond kitsch to delve deep into the melody. Many artists opt for the surface as they grow older. Carthy does the opposite, digging harder to extract the kernels of truth from his songs. And on the recorded evidence here, he achieves that with great success.