FROM her beginnings in the northern coastal village of Scarborough as the daughter of two iconic parents, folk singer and fiddler Eliza Carthy is now an entity of her own.

Joined by her incredible ensemble The Wayward Band, the 41-year-old caught up with The Gazette ahead of her return to The Anvil Theatre to talk about new album ‘Big Machine’, life on the road and why Basingstoke’s charity shops might take a hiding when she comes to town.

“We are a big machine,” Carthy tells The Gazette. She’s not wrong. The latest tour in a career littered with award-winning albums, critical acclaim and Queen’s Honours, this new show with her 12-strong army of musicians will go down as one of her most extravagant. 

“We are loud and there are many of us, and we wanted to make a strong statement about the sonic possibilities of folk music and the ways that folk commentary can relate to modern audiences,” Carthy continued.

“It’s a sum of many parts is folk music. We like to turn it on its head and show how robust and exciting it can be.”

She added: “It’s a big sound, and a very dancy one... bring your pogo shoes.”

Carthy is a renowned voice within her field – the power of her voice and her fiddle a fusion that has adorned not just her own award-winning albums, but those of her peers. 

Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and Jools Holland just some names to have utilised the fabled songstress.

There is an elegance and excitement that hums away right at the root of all Carthy records – the understandable reason she is one of a handful of acts to have been nominated for the Mercury Award, an accolade notoriously controversial, but universally celebrated. 

“The contents of my lonely head are perhaps not as cool as the contents of mine mixed with others,” Carthy said when asked about what is most enchanting about collaborating. 

“I like to be inspired, I like to learn and I like the company. “I grew up touring with family and in a way that hasn’t changes, just that the family has got bigger. May one day I’ll mostly record and tour solo like my Dad [fellow folk icon Martin Carthy] - but not today.”

The Wayward Band can only be described as a supergroup. The Gorillaz of modern folk. Bursting with some of the most celebrated performers from bands such as Bellowhead, Mawkin, Blowzabella and Peatbog Fairies, the group compliment the traditional, witty resonance of Carthy. 

It promises to be one hell of a night.

“It’s a great town,” Carthy added.

“One of the things about touring on a bus - something as folk musicians we’re not really that use to - is you get to wake up where you’re playing and have an explore about the town where you will be that night.

“Expect your charity shops to be a bit thin on the ground after a folk big band has visited.”

Watch out. If the British Heart Foundation has run out of battered vinyls, at least we know why.

Eliza Carthy & The Wayward Band head to The Anvil on Saturday November 26 from 8pm.

Tickets are £22 and for more information visit anvilarts.org.uk.