At the suggestion of music producer Joe Boyd, Dave joined Fairport Convention to complete the definitive line-up which recorded “Liege & Lief”, voted the “Most Influential Folk Album of All Time” in the 2006 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Dave was a Fairport mainstay for many years becoming the most popular English folk fiddler of his generation. He collected a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

MARTIN CARTHY has meanwhile sustained a successful solo career whilst also becoming a pivotal member of many significant folk groups along the way, Steeleye Span and The Watersons, later Brass Monkey and more recently, his highly regarded family band, Waterson:Carthy. Though he would be quite cross to be thought of in this way, Martin has become something of an national icon over the past 40 years, highly regarded not just for his authoritative and intelligent approach towards folk music but also for his quiet charm, energy and enthusiasm and ability to draw in an audience regardless of their musical preferences. He was awarded an M.B.E for services to English folk music in 1998 and twice won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year Award in 2002 and 2005.

Martin and Dave met up again in the early 1990s, touring and recording two albums for Topic Records, “Life & Limb” (TSCD491) and “Skin & Bone” (TSCD492). Sadly, this was followed by a long period of serious ill health for Dave Swarbrick, though it did include a now a celebrated moment of warped humour when in April 1999 when the Daily Telegraph ran a very premature obituary. Dave was merely seriously ill at the time, in hospital, in his home city of Coventry. With his usual good humour, Dave commented that, “It’s not the first time I have died in Coventry.” He has since recovered from major surgery and, after a 14 year interval has once again joined with Martin to record ‘Straws in the Wind’ and together they will undertake select tour dates around the UK.

This album includes fourteen peerless performances of ageless traditional songs and tunes from one of the most significant and enduring of all musical partnerships. Their art lacks none of the fervour of their early days, and it also brings to their music intensity that only youth or older age seems to encourage.

Forty years ago, Martin and Dave turned the folk music world on its head with their electrifying and inspirational performances and recordings, bringing the excitement of a rock gig to folk audiences and ‘Straws in the Wind’ provides a clear insight into how that was possible.