Show of Hands stalwart Steve Knightley pays tribute to Bob Dylan and Martin Carthy – the two performers who, above any others, set him on a track that he still follows

Release Date:  4^th March 2025

Label: Self Released

Formats: CD, Vinyl, Digital

A TRIBUTE TO TWO FORMATIVE INFLUENCES

It’s never too late to relaunch a solo career and, over the past six months or so, that’s exactly what Steve Knightley – until recently, a mainstay of folk/rock legends Show of Hands – has been up to.  Last autumn, he released the widely acclaimed The Winter Yards, his first solo studio album in 17 years.  Now, he’s back again, this time with Positively Folk Street, a collection of songs that pay tribute to two of his most formative influences: Bob Dylan and Martin Carthy.

There’s a lot to link Dylan and Carthy; the pair’s paths crossed when Martin helped Bob navigate the London folk scene of the early 1960s.  Their influences rubbed off upon each other and they became firm friends – and those mutual influences are celebrated on Positively Folk Street.

INFLUENCE OF THE FOLK TRADITION

Speaking of how both Bob Dylan and Martin Carthy impacted his own musical journey, Steve Knightley had this to say: “When I first picked up an acoustic guitar in my mid-teens, my repertoire was very limited – and then I discovered The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.  That album was a revelation.  At the time, I had no idea Dylan had drawn so deeply from our own folk traditions to shape many of his songs. 

Later that same summer, I found myself at Sidmouth Folk Festival, where I saw Martin Carthy perform live for the first time – another moment of discovery!  Carthy is namechecked on the back cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan as a source of some of Dylan’s melodies and, suddenly, his music – which I had assumed was purely American – revealed its deep British roots.  These songs – woven from a tradition stretching across the Atlantic – felt both familiar and transformative.  It was an inspiring time, a period when Dylan’s poetic sensibility collided with the narrative power of folk music.  [Positively Folk Street] is a tribute to those formative influences.” 

POSITIVELY FOLK STREET

And, so, we come to Positively Folk Street – an album that combines six of Dylan’s best-known and best-loved songs with six traditional songs associated with the vast repertoire and influence of Martin Carthy – with some clever and possibly unexpected links exposed between several of the songs… 

The timing of Positively Folk Street is, of course, spot on, with James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown Dylan biopic currently generating such huge waves of interest – but I suspect that the album would have made its appearance regardless.  As Steve is keen to point out: “Across these 12 songs, I revisit the worlds of Bob Dylan and Martin Carthy – two artists who shaped my musical journey and set me on a path I’m still walking.”

Steve’s delivery of his heroes’ songs on Positively Folk Street is consistently respectful and Jolyon Holroyd’s pared-back production allows the listener the space to fully appreciate the narrative content of the songs.  The only accompaniment to Steve’s clear vocal is provided by guitar, harmonica and cuatro and the effect is riveting.

FROM SCARBOROUGH FAIR TO BRUTON TO BRUTON TOWN

Girl From the North Country is, perhaps, the song that provided the initial spark of an idea for the album.  It was Martin Carthy’s arrangement of Scarborough Fair that inspired Dylan to write the song and to feature it on Freewheelin’.  It thus became one of the songs (but not the only one) to link the work of Dylan and Carthy.  Steve’s voice is deep, rich and warming on this new, soothing, interpretation of the song.

Irrespective of whether Carthy & Swarbrick or the more contemporary sound of Bellowhead is to your taste, you’ll agree that Steve’s version of Broomfield Hill is a worthy addition to the list of classic interpretations of that song, before he turns his attention to Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) – the minor-key epic from Dylan’s 1978 Street Legal album.  Steve’s cuatro is the perfect accompaniment and the echo that Producer Holroyd applies to Steve’s voice whenever the story gets particularly dramatic is a stroke of genius.

The archetypal murder ballad, Bruton Town, has been covered by everyone from Pentangle, Davy Graham and Sandy Denny to Carthy & Swarbrick and, again, the pared-back version that Steve Knightley presents here slots nicely into the canon.  The single guitar allows plenty of space and Steve’s gritty vocals add authenticity to the song’s gruesome story of a servant’s murder and the discovery of the body by the bereaved lover.

INTERPRETATIONS UP THERE WITH THE BEST…

Steve’s version of Forever Young is wonderfully mellow.  It’s just Steve, his guitar, his belief and his passion on a song that increases its poignancy with every day that passes.  Steve returns to his cuatro for a sublime take of the traditional Just As the Tide Was Flowing.  Shirley Collins and Eliza Carthy have both recorded what I’d consider to be ‘definitive’ versions of this song, and, once again, Steve’s version is up there with the best.

It’s fingerpicked guitar and (of course) harmonica that Steve selects for Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright.  Like many people, I consider this one to be, perhaps, my favourite of all of Dylan’s songs and Steve’s version here is superlative.  The song’s lyrics are important, and Steve’s voice is crystal clear as he sings them.

Martin Carthy has described the doleful Polly on the Shore as “…a song about that most beautiful and precious of emotions – resignation, with a tune to match.”  Steve’s interpretation of the song fits that bill as he recalls the experiences of the song’s pressganged sailor in a suitably husky voice.

Dylan’s Positively 4th Street is, of course, the ultimate riposte song.  Steve seems to be enjoying himself too much to quite muster the venom of Dylan’s original delivery of the song but his vocal is strident and the solidly-strummed guitar acts like a stabbing, accusing finger as he makes his points on an excellent version. 

SPANISH FOOTWEAR

The Dylan-Carthy link is revisited for Steve’s take on the broadside ballad, Lord Franklin.  It’s a song that will be familiar to many listeners – Pentangle and Sinéad O’Connor have both released popular versions – and Dylan borrowed ideas from Martin Carthy’s arrangement of the song to inform Bob Dylan’s Dream, another song featured on the seminal Freewheelin’… album.  Here, accompanied solely by what sounds like a slightly wheezy concertina, Steve delivers a passionate, observational, rendering of the story in which Lady Franklin laments the fate of her husband’s doomed attempt to find the elusive Northwest Passage.

Boots of Spanish Leather is yet another Dylan song with its roots in European folk tradition and Steve nails it with an emotion-charged vocal and some accomplished fingerpicked guitar.  And Boots… isn’t the only song on the album that references Spanish footwear, either…

…Indeed, the lady who provides the subject matter for closing track, Seven Yellow Gypsies, is observed to “kick off her high-heeled shoes, made of Spanish leather” as she leaves the luxury of her manor home to forge a new life with the Gypsies of the song’s title.  It’s Steve’s version of Carthy’s arrangement of the traditional Raggle Taggle Gypsies, as included on Martin’s 1969 Prince Heathen album.  The light percussion, along with Steve’s staccato guitar technique gives the song a distinctively Carthy-esque sound and it’s a sincere and fitting tribute to one British folk’s genuine heroes and innovators and a lovely way to close an inspired album.

Hear what Steve Knightley has to say about Positively Folk Street – watch the short video below:

Steve Knightley online: Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / YouTube / Bandcamp (Show of Hands)

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube