Dave Swarbrick - Topic Records

Dave Swarbrick first came to prominence on the folk scene as as young instrumental virtuoso in the Ian Campbell Folk Group. By 1967 Dave had left them and had teamed up with Martin Carthy as a duo. While they featured hot instrumental tracks in their live sets and recordings, Dave's forte in the duo was sensitive accompaniment to Martin's vocals and guitar. On Rags, Reels & Airs the focus was solely on Dave and it finally gave him a chance to really stretch out and demonstrate his leading instrumental prowess. The result was a new era of English instrumental folk music and a new approach to folk music altogether.

MARTIN CARTHY & DAVE SWARBRICK BOTH EARS AND THE TAIL TSCD572

One of the great duos of all time, Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick joined up in early spring 1966 as a performing unit. They were an immediate hit, becoming overnight the most popular group in the burgeoning folk club scene in Britain. Both Ears and the Tail was recorded live at the Folkus Folk Club in Nottingham in 1966 in the first flush of their success with both audience and performers hardly able to catch their breath.

This recording only came to light in recent times and it is astonishing in its fire and clarity. Many of the songs performed that night are to be found on the early Martin Carthy albums, but, on stage, the interplay between Martin and Dave virtually re-wrote all the material. This is a real live experience and an opportunity to “be there on the night”.

• "On this crystal clear recording of the classic Carthy/Swarbrick duo partnership are caught early in their partnership. Swarb’s swooping fiddle coils with propulsive energy." Uncut

• "It’s a corker. The natural chemistry between them is irresistible." Record Collector

• "The attraction of the CD is in the live performance, the guitar and fiddle [and occasional mandolin] weaving in and out, responding to each other’s playing. And the recording quality is very good." Derek Schofield, English Dance and Song

1 The Leitrim Fancy + Drowsy Maggie + Staten Island + The Corbie and the Craw
2 High Germany
3 Fair Maid on the Shore
4 Porcupine Rag
5 The Bonnie Black Hare

6 Sovay (The Female Highwayman)
7 The Barmaid + Peter Street + The Mason's Apron
8 The Broomfield Hill
9 The Wind that Shakes the Barley
10 The Hen's March + The Four Poster Bed

11 Man of Newlyn Town

12 Dill Pickles Rag
13 The Two Magicians
14 The Kid on the Mountain + The Donegal + The Swallowstail + The Marquis of Tullybardine

Martin Carthy vocals, guitar
Dave Swarbrick fiddle, mandolin
Live recording, 1966

MARTIN CARTHY & DAVE SWARBRICK STRAWS IN THE WIND TSCD556

The legendary, ground-breaking duo in a startlingly intense reunion on this 2006 album. All the old skills are demonstrated with a new collection of traditional songs and instrumentals. Their experienced approach to their art lacks none of the fervour of their early days, and brings a maturity born of many years living with the music that is an integral part of their beings.

• "Intense and demanding, this is hard core traditional music. Sublime fiddle playing and the passionate delivery of evocative old songs by their ablest interpretor." Telegraph

• "The super-duo are back together after 14 years." The Guardian

• "Swarbrick is an absolute revelation here, as instinctively sympathetic and wickedly inspirational as he ever was. It’s like they were a couple of twenty somethings again. To hear Swarb bowing with such soul and tenderness and dynamism too is an unconditional joy." fRoots

more press reviews at the foot of the page

1 Death Of Queen Jane
2 Ship In Distress
3 Whalecatchers
4 When I Was A Little Boy

5 Bride's March From Unst / True Lover's Lament / Lord Inchiquin
6 Royal Oak
7 Treadmill Song
8 Unfortunate Tailor
9 Bold Benjamin
10 Mrs Marriott
11 Jacky Tar

12 Mermaid

13 Lord Thomas And Fair Eleanor
14 My Heart's In New South Wales

Martin Carthy vocals, guitar
Dave Swarbrick fiddle
Kevin Dempsey plays second guitar on My Heart’s in New South Wales

DAVE SWARBRICK Rags, Reels and Airs TSCD517

With Martin Carthy & Diz Disley

A lost classic, first released in 1967 and immediately recognised as a recording landmark. Rags, Reels & Airs was produced by Joe Boyd, who introduced Dave Swarbrick to Fairport Convention - the result of which was Liege & Lief and a whole new era for folk and rock music. Joe Boyd's sleeve notes included this comment: 'This record should provide ample evidence of the fact that Dave Swarbrick is doing perhaps the finest job of reconciling traditional instrumental styles with modern ideas and technique'.

1 Spanish Ladies Medley

2 Hens March to the Middens
3 Bottom of the Punchbowl / The Swallow Tail / Marquis of Tullybardine
4 Barney Brallaghan / The New Widow Well Married / Paddy Be Aisy
5 Dill Pickles Rag
6 Gurty's Frolics
7 The Blackbird
8 The Cuckoo's Nest
9 Lietrum Fancy Medley
10 Porcupine Rag
11 Villafjord / Fourposter Bed
12 Staten Island / Jimmy Allen
13 The Salamanca Medley
14 The Teetotallers Medley
15 Lord Mayo
16 The Kid on the Mountain
17 Jolly Tinker / Rags & Tatters
18 Father Kelly / Skopje / Sligo Maid

Dave Swarbrick fiddle, mandolin, 8-string fiddle
Martin Carthy guitar
Diz Disley guitar

MARTIN CARTHY & DAVE SWARBRICK SKIN & BONE TSCD492

This lively collaboration, from 1992, features a poignant reading of the ballad Lucy Wan and a long medley of tunes by the Irish harpist O'Carolan.

1 The Sheepstealer
2 The Poacher
3 I Courted a Damsel
4 Lucy Wan
5 The Trip We Took Over the Mountain
6 The Skewbald
7 The Ride in the Creel
8 The Brown Girl
9 Such a War Has Never Been
10 Perfumes of Arabia
11 Carthy's Reel /The Return to Camden Town
12 The New Mown Hay
13 Clyde's Water
14 Mrs Bermingham / No.178 / Blind Mary

Martin Carthy vocals, guitar
Dave Swarbrick fiddle

MARTIN CARTHY & DAVE SWARBRICK LIFE & LIMB TSCD491

Carthy and Swarbrick celebrated their 1990 reunion by adding many new songs and tunes to their repertoire as well as taking a fresh look at old favourites like Sovay and Byker Hill.

tscd491, carthy & swarbrick, life & limb

1 Sovay
2 The Begging Song
3 Bows of London
4 The Pepperpot / Sailing into Walpole's Marsh / Bunker Hill
5 A Question of Sport
6 Oh Dear Oh
7 Carthy's March / The Lemon Tree
8 Lochmaben Harper
9 Byker Hill

Martin Carthy vocals, guitar
Dave Swarbrick fiddle

Press Reviews

TSCD 556 "Straws in the Wind"

• "With a track record of being leaders in the folk scene for more years than seems possible, this CD clearly shows the empathy that develops between musicians who work with each other over long periods. Martin’s guitar and Dave’s fiddle are a joy to hear as these two masters of their instruments play with, and around, the words of the songs. Deserves a place in anyone’s collection." English Dance and Song

• "I’d say that this album is better than the two from the nineties. Magnificent." The voice of folk in Wales and the Borders

• "Living proof that a comeback album can after all be every bit as good as we remember the artists being in their glory days. The passage of time has brought a significant and telling degree of additional insight to their performances on this new recording. The whole album, in fact, contains some peerless performances, electrifying and inspirational; Martin’s ever sensitive guitar work is exemplary, always a high benchmark for any aspiring guitarists, while the intensity of Swarb’s fiddling ensures that sparks fly. Absolutely superb, no home should be without this invigorating disc." NetRhythms

• "What a welcome reunion (this) is, the old chums reigniting the musical intimacy that only comes from such a long association." The Independent Review

• "The iconic master-duo reunite and pull out a marvellous selection, by turns both warm and haunting." BBC Radio 2 online

• "Just listen to the sparks fly – for much of the album, fiddle and acoustic guitar seethe and conspire, keen and howl. It’s the unaffected gravitas of Carthy’s voice that really brings these sage, sorry tales to life." HMV Choice

• "Martin Carthy’s voice gets better on each new listen, the quality in depth and range never fails to impress me, add Dave Swarbrick’s fiddle playing and this is as good as you are likely to hear. Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick are what they have become, two of the most respected musicians in folk music, and with this CD they have again added another notch to their belt in preserving the heritage of English folk music without compromise." Acid Attack online

• "Swarbrick and Carthy play with all the fervour and conviction of their early days and plan to follow up this exciting album with live performances together. Not to be missed" New Classics

• "These new recordings find Swarbrick’s lively fiddling circling Carthy’s stately strident guitar parts. Despite decades of experience, the duo choose to resist unnecessarily florid embellishment, bending to the will of their material like straws in the wind." Sunday Times Culture Magazine

• "One of their best" Morning Star

• "It is wonderful to hear such a glorious return to form. Carthy has been operating at the absolute peak of his powers for the last decade – the effect is breathtaking – so colored with emotion that it inspires awe." Dirty Linen