Blue Murder is an occasional English folk

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

, consisting at various times of various members of

Swan Arcade Swan Arcade were a British folk music vocal group formed in 1970. "A leading light of the British folk revival" they sang a wide variety of songs, including blues, pop and rock and roll, as well as traditional folk music, mostly performed a cap ...

Coope Boyes and Simpson Coope Boyes and Simpson was an English vocal folk trio, formed around 1990. Their sound was rich and often had unusual vocal harmonies. The group comprised singers Barry Coope, Jim Boyes (formerly of Swan Arcade) and Lester Simpson, and almost a ...

, Waterson–Carthy and

The Watersons The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies. They have been called the "most famous fam ...

. Dave and Heather Brady and Jim Boyes of Swan Arcade and The Watersons' Norma and Lal Waterson gathered at

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

Folk Week in August 1986 for a charity concert for the benefit of the local school. The ensemble, probably performing as The Boggle Hole Chorale, performed at the Festival's final ceilidh. In 1987,

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work as the lead vocalist, flautist, acoustic guitarist and leader of the British rock band Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist w ...

invited The Watersons and Swan Arcade to appear at Bracknell Festival, separately and together. The collective group was named "Blue Murder" by

Martin Carthy Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such as ...

. The line up for the festival was: Martin Carthy, with Norma, Lal, Rachel and

Mike Waterson Michael Waterson (17 January 1941 – 22 June 2011) was an English writer, songwriter and folk singer. Biography Waterson was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. After being orphaned at an early age, he was brought up there, wit ...

, plus Heather Brady, Dave Brady and Jim Boyes. This version of Blue Murder performed in 1987 and 1988 at

Wath upon Dearne Wath upon Dearne (shortened to Wath or often hyphenated) is a town south of the River Dearne in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, north of Rotherham and almost midway between Barnsley and Doncaster. It had a pop ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, at The

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten. The ...

in London, at a variety of British festivals, and at the Brossella Festival in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. A demo was put together from their Wath concert performance and a track from a concert in

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Built-up Area, Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Bracknell Forest, Borough of Bracknell Forest. It l ...

appears on ''The Carthy Chronicles'' (Free Reed FRQCD-60), but this incarnation of the band made no studio recordings. In 1994, Blue Murder performed "I Bid You Goodnight" for a benefit album ''Out on the Rolling Sea''. By this time, Swan Arcade had split up, and Heather Brady was unavailable on the day of recording. Barry Coope and Lester Simpson of Coope Boyes and Simpson replaced the two Bradys. Eliza Carthy meanwhile had replaced Rachel Waterson in the Watersons. The third incarnation of the group began in 2000, following the death of Lal Waterson, when they appeared for a "Yorkshire Evening." They appeared at the Sidmouth Festival in 2001. A concert tour followed in 2002, along with the recording of their first (and thus far only) studio album, '' No One Stands Alone''. The line-up for 2000–2002 was Norma and Mike Waterson, Martin and Eliza Carthy, Barry Coope, Jim Boyes and Lester Simpson. This line up – occasionally minus Eliza Carthy when Blue Murder performances clashed with her other commitments – performed sporadically over the next few years, largely on the UK festival circuit. Eventually, Eliza was permanently replaced by

Maria Gilhooley Maria Gilhooley (née Knight), who records under the name Marry Waterson, is a singer, songwriter and visual artist. A member of the Waterson-Knight-Carthy family musical dynasty, Waterson is described as having "thrived on communal music making ...

, Lal Waterson's daughter and occasional

Watersons The Watersons were an English folk group from Hull, Yorkshire. They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment. Their distinctive sound came from their closely woven harmonies. They have been called the "most famous fam ...

and Waterson–Carthy collaborator. On 23 November 2007 this line up made its debut concert appearance at the Met Theatre in

Bury, Greater Manchester Bury ( ) is a market town on the River Irwell in Greater Manchester, England. Metropolitan Borough of Bury is administered from the town, which had an estimated population of 78,723 in 2015. The town is within the historic county boundarie ...

Discography

* ''The Carthy Chronicles'' (Free Reed Records. Cat. No: FRQCD 60) 2001 *: 4-CD box set tracing the career of Martin Carthy includes one track by the original Blue Murder line-up, recorded live at Bracknell Festival 11 July 1987. *: ANC Song (Azicatal), Blue Murder (mk I): Heather Brady, Lal Waterson, Rachel Waterson, Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, Mike Waterson, Dave Brady and Jim Boyes: vocals * ''Out on the Rolling Sea: A tribute to the music of Joseph Spence & the Pinder Family'' (Hokey Pokey Records. Cat. No: HPR 2004.2) 1994 *: Various artists

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, including one track by Blue Murder. *: "I Bid You Goodnight," Blue Murder (mk II):: Eliza Carthy: lead vocals; Lal Waterson, Norma Waterson, Jim Boyes, Martin Carthy, Barry Coope, Lester Simpson and Mike Waterson: vocals * ''Shining Bright: The Songs of Lal & Mike Waterson'' (Topic Records. Cat. No: TSCD519) 2002 *: Various artists compilation including one track by Blue Murder (Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Norma Waterson, Jim Boyes and Barry Coope appear elsewhere on other tracks on this album). *: "Bright Phoebus," Blue Murder (mk III): Lester Simpson, Barry Coope, Jim Boyes, Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Norma Waterson, Mike Waterson: vocals; Martin Carthy: guitar, Lester Simpson:

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

* '' No One Stands Alone'' (Topic Records. Cat. No: TSCD537) 2002 * '' Three Score and Ten'',

Topic Records Topic Records is a British folk music label, which played a major role in the second British folk revival. It began as an offshoot of the Workers' Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world.M. Brocken, ...

70-year anniversary boxed set included the title track from ''No One stands Alone'' as track twenty two on the seventh CD 2009

External links

Coope Boyes and Simpson's page on Blue Murder

Unofficial Blue Murder MySpace page

Official Waterson–Carthy website

Swan Arcade MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Murder English folk musical groups