Classic Folk with Mike Norris
Classic Folk is unique.
It mines a rich seam of wonderful folk and roots music and song from around 75 years of recordings.
From the great source singers to the legends of folk rock, the travellers to the protesters, the ballads to the blues, from the far north to the deep south and all around the English speaking world, the songs live again.
And, not forgetting the pick of the new releases and a few cracking tunes, it’s like having a folk festival in the comfort of your own home!
Former English Folk Dance and Song Society Chair (2006–2011) and long-standing member Mike Norris hosts our weekly folk radio programme.
Mike explores a wide range of folk and acoustic music from the UK and abroad – from rarely heard archive and field recordings to the very latest releases.
Listen now
Tuesday 10 September 2024
This week’s music:
1. Rufford Park Poachers / Landworker's Alliance
2. House Carpenter / Peggy Seeger
3. The Boatswain Jon Wilks
4. Blow The Wind Southerly / Lewis Barfoot
5. The Fisher Lad Of Whitby / Malin Hill
6. Bovaglie Plaid / Doug Lamey
7. Smokeless Chimneys / Bird In The Belly
8. Johnny I Hardly knew Ye / Macdara Yeates
9. The Hills Of Mexico / Last Chance / Sara Grey
10. Cruel Mother Country / Angeline Morrison
11. Cruel Mother / Fay Hield
12. Daddy Fox / Peter Knight's Gigspanner Big Band
13. Tramps & Hawkers / Francy Devine
14. Juniper Gentle & Rosemary / Magpie Lane
15. The Convict's Lamentation / Melrose Quartet
16. The Circle Game / Joni Mitchell
17. First We Take Manhattan / Leonard Cohen
18. When The Sun Shines Over Brodick / Alastair Savage And Alice Allen
19. The Minstrel's Song / Johnny Collins
20. Banks Of Inverurie / Jock Duncan
21. Between the Piers / Kathryn Tickell
22. The Weavers / Ruth And Sadie Price with Lisa Oliver
23. Old Neptune / The Rheingans Sisters
24. The Star of the County Down / Loreena McKennitt
Also available to stream:
The presenter: Mike Norris
Mike’s passion for folk music spans decades; from first learning to play the melodeon and singing shanties at school, to running folk festivals and gigs.
A teenager during the 1960s, Mike was heavily influenced by protest song and folk-rock popularity (Bob Dylan, the Copper Family, Joan Baez, Fairport Convention etc), as well as the tail end of the folk-song revival shaped by The Watersons, Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, Shirley Collins, Woody Guthrie and many more.
Interesting fact: The hospital where Mike was born, in Portsmouth, grew out of the workhouse where George Gardiner collected more than 100 songs in the early 1900s.
