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In the liner notes Martin Carthy threatens physical harm -- a swift, unsoft kick to the posterior -- to anyone who insists on calling Waterson:Carthy "'The First Family of Folk' or even (God help us) 'The Royal Family of Folk.'" So let us say here that Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson, and their daughter Eliza are, mmm, among the most, er, prominent, respected, and, uh, influential traditional British musicians. Dare I add beloved, or am I pushing my luck? Martin and Norma (who was one of the legendary Watersons, whose harmonies, once heard, are never forgotten) helped shape the early folk revival. Eliza, singer and fiddler of talent equal to her genetic inheritance, will take it well into the new century.Walking encyclopedias of the British (especially English) tradition, they find obscure songs and little-known versions of well-known ballads. From them, they fashion a deeply rooted, yet still modern and innovative, art. This, their fourth album under the Waterson:Carthy name, maintains the rich quality of the others. Aided by singer and melodeon player Tim van Eyken, they tackle 11 songs. One -- "The Old Churchyard," learned from the late Arkansas singer Almeda Riddle -- is American in origin, though it doesn't sound like it in W:C's reimagining. "Death and the Lady" is a much older, more explicitly medieval version of a ballad which, when it crossed the ocean and found its way to the lips of Dock Boggs and Ralph Stanley, became "Oh, Death." In this reading, Death is actually described; he's bald, gray-bearded, "his clothing made of the cold earthen clay." If you see someone matching that description, cross the street as fast as you can. Fortunately, not everything is this scary. There is, for one glorious example, the absurdly lovely "Diego's Bold Shore," a 19th-Century whaling song wonderfully sung by Eliza. It's the sort of piece you don't want to end, ever.Every superlative in the English language has at one time or another been hurled at Carthys and Watersons. Enough. Just listen to this CD, and your life will be better.