TALKING HEADS have lined up the most respected duo in folk music for a special gig at the Southampton venue early next month.

Martin Carthy and his wife Norma Waterson take the stage for an acoustic set on Tuesday, September 3.

Well known to Southampton fans through his appearances at the Fo'c'sle Club and The Balladeer, Carthy celebrates 40 years' recording folk music next year.

The man from Hatfield in Hertfordshire began his career as an actor, but in 1959 became a skiffle guitarist and singer with the Thameside Four.

In 1963 he made his first solo recording on the collection Hootenanny In London, singing three songs including Your Baby 'as Gone Down the Plug Hole, later revived by Cream.

By that time, Carthy was recognised as a virtuoso folk guitarist with a residency at London's top folk club, the Troubadour.

There, he taught songs to visiting Americans including Bob Dylan and Paul Simon who adapted Lord Franklin and Scarborough Fair for their own records. Carthy also recorded with the Three City Four in the early 1960s before making his first solo album for Fontana in 1965. He also toured with violinist Dave Swarbrick and from 1969 to 1972, he was a member of the folk-rock band Steeleye Span, with whom he first played electric guitar.

He later joined the more traditional vocal group The Watersons, which also included his wife Norma Waterson.

In the Eighties he toured and recorded with Brass Monkey, a band formed by John Kirk-patrick and Sue Harris.

According to Southampton folk music guru John Edgar Mann, who knows Martin well, the respected musician has never learned to drive, despite being "on the road" for the last 30 years.

Admission is £8. For more information, call 023 8067 8446.