Eliza Carthy - fiddle, singing, guitar
The Ratcatchers:
John Boden - fiddle, singing, double bass, guitar, concertina, percussion
Ben Ivitsky - viola, singing, guitar, low whistle, hurdy-gurdy
John Spiers - melodeon, singing, one-row accordion, bandoneon
With:
Heather Macleod - singing
Mattie Foulds - snare & lemon drums
Fay Hield - singing
Mary Hampton - singing
Lorna MacDonald - bass trombone
Willy Molleson - singing

"An album of boundless warmth, verve and spirit" fROOTS “Eliza Carthy is sassy, cool and exciting. Her new CD confirms her as a singer of power and distinction. Rough Music is an early contender for folk CD of 2005. What an achievement it would be if it could turn out to be rather more than a great album for a small public." - CD OF THE WEEK, The Telegraph “One of the brightest stars in the folk firmament. Eliza’s exquisite voice and fiddle playing make this a vibrant take on centuries-old tradition.” - The Sun “Singer and violinist Eliza Carthy is one of the figureheads of the English folk revival and this album demonstrates why – compelling music.” Evening Standard

More info from the record label:
‘Rough Music’ is a step on from the multi-award winning ‘Anglicana’, and is a powerful, vital, multi-layered collection full of dark rhythms in Eliza’s vision of English Traditional Music for the new millennium. Her backing band, The Ratcatchers, includes her long time collaborator Ben Ivitsky, and two of the fastest rising stars of the folk scene, Jon Boden and John Spiers.

The album features dense arrangements of traditional songs showcasing Eliza’s incomparable voice as well as spirited, highly original performances of English instrumental music. Billy Bragg’s ‘King James Version’ and Eliza’s own ‘Mohair' complete the unique blend of old and new.

The title notwithstanding, there is nothing rough about the quality of the music – Eliza has taken the name of the album from an age-old custom and she explains it…..

“Rough Music is in the Book of Days on October 28th and is described as a form of community punishment practiced all over England. If a man were seen to be (say) beating his wife, or ‘allowing himself to be hen-pecked’ it says here, he could expect to receive a concert of Rough Music. Basically if they thought you had been naughty (it doesn’t say how or if they proved this) all the men, women and children of the village would go round to your house in the middle of the night, call out your name and proceed to bang pots, pans, tin lids and buckets or whatever came to hand, to bring your crimes to attention and drive you out. When my family moved to North Yorkshire at the beginning of the seventies there was a case of a man being driven from our area by this method. However, we’ve tried to make the album a bit nicer than that."

Tracks:

• 1 Turpin Hero
• 2 King James Version
• 3 Cobbler's Hornpipe
• 4 Gallant Hussar
• 5 Upside Down (Double Lead Through + Highland Mary + Dear Tobacco)
• 6 Mohair
• 7 The Unfortunate Lass
• 8 Scan Tester's Country Stepdance + Lemmy Brazil's No.2
• 9 Maid On The Shore
• 10 Mr McCusker & Mr McGoldrick's English Choice
• 11 Tom Brown