Eliza Carthy is one of the linchpins of the English folk scene–leading her own tradition-based band the Ratcatchers, and performing with her mum, singer Norma Waterson, and her dad, legendary singer and guitarist Martin Carthy, in the band Waterson: Carthy. As if that's not enough to keep her busy, on her upcoming swing through British Columbia the 32-year-old singer and fiddler will be playing in the new duo she's formed with her partner, Victoria-born Aidan Curran. The two met at a pub session at last year's Sidmouth Folk Festival in England, and debuted as a team at South by Southwest in March. Although Carthy and Curran, who plays guitar and mandolin, haven't played together in public since then, they can't resist the opportunity to try out new things for actual audiences.

"We'll be doing some traditional stuff and some songwriting material from each of us," Carthy says, on the line from Gateshead, England, where she's performing as a guest with Curran's band the Park Bench Social Club. "Aidan and I have been working on a lot of Northumbrian material recently, because he's been getting into music from where his dad's from."

Many of the traditional songs and tunes will come from Carthy's most recent album with the Ratcatchers, Rough Music. That disc opens with a brilliant interpretation of the 18th-century highwayman's gallows ballad "Turpin Hero" that starts out almost mournfully, but soon develops into a rough and roguish sing-along.

"I called the album Rough Music because that's the style the Ratcatchers have developed," Carthy says. "When I did Red Rice back in '98, a lot of the stuff was based on a beat–we were very conscious of making music that could be remixed at some point. Then for Anglicana [2002] I wanted to treat the songs differently, because the English tradition is very much based around singing–we do have the tunes, but it's not as much an instrumental tradition as with the Celts."

Whether with her band or in the duo with Curran, Carthy continues to play and sing in her characteristically earthy style. But things may be changing for her in the near future.

"I'm working on the songwriting and more with people like Aidan and my brother-in-law Saul Rose [of Waterson: Carthy]," she reveals. "I want to have a bit of an exploration with the music. Me and my mum are going to be making an album together as well. Everything's shifting for me at the moment, but it's really great."

Eliza Carthy and Aidan Curran play St. James Hall on Saturday (September 22).