MARTIN Carthy’s story mirrors the history of the English folk revival. Arguably its most pivotal figure, right from the early days, he has reached the grand age of 70 and this overdue collection celebrates his milestone birthday. And it is well collated because, intentionally or not, Essential charts the singer/guitarist’s sudden rise from competent to masterful.

The first six tracks show Carthy playing it fairly safe. But at the dawn of the Seventies he threw away his chord book, retuned the guitar in open C and proceeded to wallop his bottom string with a steel thumb pick. It was a revelation and Seven Yellow Gypsies is the first example of his fresh, rhythmic style.

Hard on its heels comes Prince Heathen, but skip to Skewbald and The Bedmaking if you want to discover the moment Carthy finally knew exactly how he wanted to play folk. Both were pivotal to his influence and with no restrictive C-G-F progressions any more, Carthy’s guitar exploded into life, belting out percussive dance tunes to accompany his unusual singing voice.

Essential also includes his many collaborations and while there isn’t a duff song on board, it’s those supreme examples from the early Seventies that changed the folk world for good. From then on, everyone wanted to play like Martin Carthy. They still do.

Marrying into the Waterson family gave Carthy a separate vehicle for his music and Live at Hull Truck is another celebration – 50 years as Britain’s first family of folk. There are 22 songs, interviews with Norma and Mike as well as Carthy and his daughter, Eliza. All the favourites are here from Old Salty to White Cockade and they are performed with a consummate ease few groups could match. This is an uplifting concert and shows why The Watersons are so revered in English folk music. Mumford and Sons would do well to buy a copy because this is how you sing folk music.