The Watersons - Biography
BY J Poet
The Watersons were one of the first and most influential folk groups of the English folk revival, the only a cappella group to achieve near superstar status in the UK. Their strong voices dazzled all listeners while the traditional songs they introduced to a wider public, many passed down in heir own family for generations, became part of the standard repertoire for a generation of British folk singers. They made few albums, but all are considered benchmark recordings. In 1972 Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy married, and the group evolved into Waterson:Carthy, a band that continues to perform the traditional songs while adding their own contemporary flair. Norma Waterson and Matin Carthy were both awarded The Order of the British Empire for their contribution to British traditional music in Waterson in 2003, Carthy in 1998.
The Watersons – Norma, Mike, and Lal - are from Hull, in Yorkshire. Their parents died while they were still tots; their grandmother, who was a traditional singer, raised them and taught them many of the songs they later sang professionally. They started performing at home and formed a group with their cousin John Harrison called The Mariners. They sang mainly jazz standards and skiffle tunes, the latter being a short lived British hybrid of American jug band music and British pop. They changed the group name to The Folksons and got more serious about performing traditional material, after opening a folk club in their home town called Folk Union One. It was there that they developed their unique vocal style and changed their name to The Watersons. Many people considered them a hard core group of traditionalists, but they were all gifted and adventurous singers and arrangers. Their use of polyphonic harmony was unlike anything that had come before them, while the interplay of the solo voices set a high standard for other folk singers. They collected hundreds of songs from East Yorkshire and introduced them to the world at large.
In 1965 Topic, at that time a new folk label, recorded five songs by The Watersons for New Voices (1965 Topic) a compilation of traditional songs sung by the new generation. Frost and Fire: A Calendar of Ceremonial Folk Songs (1965 Topic), their first full album, set a new benchmark for folk albums. The songs describe a typical year in Britain, from winter to winter, using seasonal songs including ancient trick-or-treat songs that had been unheard for many years. The critics raved.
The group became stars on the folk circuit and cut two more stunning albums in their first incarnation The Watersons (1966 Topic) and A Yorkshire Garland (1966 Topic), ballads from Hull and Yorkshire. when Norma got a DJ job at a station on Montserrat, a British possession in the Caribbean, the group broke up. In 1972 Norma came back to Hull and the group reformed, briefly with a singer named Bernie Vickers, then with Martin Carthy who married Norma shortly thereafter. Carthy was already a well known singer, songwriter and guitarist and he brought his own knowledge of traditional material to the band. This line up made three stellar albums - For Pence and Spicy Ale (1975 Topic/ 1975 Shanachie US), which shows Carthy’s input taking them in a more contemporary direction, Sound, Sound Your Instruments of Joy (1977 Topic) a collection of pre-Victorian hymns and carols and Green Fields (1981 Topic) which features group, solo and duet arrangements of songs of the English countryside.
Shortly thereafter Lal and Mike stopped performing publicly, except for sporadic family reunion shows, although several solo and duo recordings did appear including the rare Bright Phoebus (1972 Trailer) a folk rock outing by Lal and Mike, A True Hearted Girl (1977 Topic) by Lal, Norma and cousin Maria Waterson, the solo Mike Waterson (1977 Topic), Norma Waterson (Ryko/Hannibal 1996) a low key folk rock set with Richard Thompson on lead guitar, and two by Lal and her son Oliver Knight, Once in a Blue Moon (1996 Topic) and A Bed of Roses (1999 Topic) a collection of tunes by British singer/songwriters that was completed just before Lal’s death. Norma and Martin Carthy, with their daughter Liza began performing as Waterson:Carthy in the early 90s. Lal died of cancer in 1998. Mighty River of Song (2004 Topic) collects 90 songs from various stages of their career on four CDs and includes a DVD with a documentary of their early days on the road Traveling for a Living.