Martha Tilston

Saturday afternoon

Nominated for 2007 BBC folk Horizon Award and protest singer of the nufolk movement.

Martha's interest in song started at an early age. Her father Steve Tilston, acclaimed songwriter and performer and stepmother Maggie Boyle, folk singer, had a great influence on her musically.

She spent parts of her childhood around the bright lights of the folk revival scene such as Bert Jansch, John Renbourne and of course her parents. This early introduction to folk music gave her an understanding of the importance of music in communitys and inspired Martha to write her own songs from an early age, first on piano then later guitar.

At the end of 2002 Martha supported Damien Rice on tour round Ireland and this was really the start of her solo career. Since then she has picked up an ever growing word of mouth following and supported artists such as Roddy Frame, Nick Harper and others.

She toured round Britain on the 'Twisted Folk' Tour with Hem and The Earlies, and has headlined many gigs around the UK.

In Feb 2005 she released her official debut album 'bimbling' on her label squiggly records. This album was funded by the sale of paintings Martha made of each song at an exhibition at the 12bar, Soho. The paintings were used as the artwork for the album. Martha has since given talks/seminars to young musicians about finding original ways to fund albums.

Earlier this year Matha released her second album to rave reviews.
'of Milkmaid and Architects'
Like the album before it has an obvious English feel in both it's musical styles and subject matter, and it's references to England's culture hit the mark almost everytime.
With this disc, Martha looks like she's cementing the Tilston name in the new folk generation, just as her father has over the past 30 years. Recommended.


'A sparkling repertoire of self-penned songs' -Timeout

'She has probably the purest voice I have heard and at times it sent shivers up and down my spine' - Lee Allen, BBC

'As political as often as she is romantic, her voice weaves magic... ...sounding redolent of wet leaves and spider-webbed hollows... ...The Tilston name seems fair set to dominate the English folk scene for another generation. ' -

'Martha Tilston is on her way to being considered one of Britain's finest young singer-songwriters' - Orpheus magazine/Virgin