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 Chairman (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
Monday 4th December 2023
This week’s music:
- Billy Don't You Weep For Me / Nic Jones
- The Spider And The Wolf / Naomi Bedford
- Fresh as a Sweet Sunday Morning / John Renbourn & Wizz Jones
- The Bonny Bunch Of Roses / Barry Lister
- Napoleon's Farewell To Paris - Trad Arr Turner / Steve Turner
- Napoleon's Death / Waterson:Carthy
- Reeling & Staggering / Napolean Crossing The Alps / Ewan McLennan
- A Song Story / Shirley & Dolly Collins
- Bold Nelson's Praise / Ian Woods With Cztery Refy
- Carrying Nelson Home / Mike O'Connor
- The Death Of Nelson / Melrose Quartet
- The Diggers Song / Windborne
- The Riverflow / The Levellers
- Ethel / The Rosie Hood Band
- Parsons Green / Tarras
- How Shall I Your True Love Know? / Silly Sisters
- Who Put the Blood / Hickory Signals
- The Farley Bridge / Duncan Chisholm
- The Wreck of the Dandenong / Kate Burke & Ruth Hazleton
- On The Road To Gundagai / Warren Fahey
- Miner's Washin' / John Warner and Margaret Walters
- The Freedom Come-All-Ye / Jim Reid
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.
