HE'S rightly regarded as folk Royalty.

And next week Martin Carthy will show the String Jam Club audience exactly why.

If the English folk revival of the 1960s had a father-figure and guiding spirit, then Martin Carthy would be it.

As the Lifetime Achievement Award winner at BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2014, Martin makes a welcome third visit to String Jam Club on Saturday, April 6.

For more than 50 years he has been one of folk music's greatest innovators, one of its best loved, most enthusiastic and, at times, most quietly controversial of figures.

His skill, stage presence and natural unassuming charm have won him many admirers, not only from within the folk scene, but also far beyond it.

String Jam promoter Allie Fox told us: "If you trace Martin's career from that period to the modern day, you have perhaps the most important and influential folksinger in England, a source of inspiration for many, a conduit for the songs, a genius guitar player who uses tunings you never knew existed, a model for how to approach traditional music, and in short a legend.

"In 1998 Martin was awarded an MBE for his services to folk music.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to see and hear this folk icon live and up close at String Jam Club."

Martin has been described as “arguably the greatest English folk song performer, writer, collector and editor of them all” by Q Magazine. He’s a ballad singer, a ground-breaking acoustic and electric-guitarist and an authoritative interpreter of newly composed material.

Perhaps, most significant of all, are his settings of traditional songs with guitar, which have influenced a whole generation of artists on both sides of the Atlantic, including Bob Dylan who first met Martin in the early 60s and has described him as “incredible” and Paul Simon, who notoriously used Martin’s arrangement of ‘Scarborough Fair’ for his hit single.

Martin has long been regarded as one of the most pivotal figures in the English folk revival of the 1960s, his vocal and guitar style being two of the most consistent, distinctive and influential sounds on the scene.

Martin will play at the County Hotel in Selkirk on Saturday, April 6

Doors open at 7.30pm.

Tickets, priced at £15, are available online from Eventbrite or in person from the County Hotel. To reserve tickets, email thestringjamclub@gmail.com