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 17 January 2021
This week’s music
- The Grey Funnel Line / Maddy Prior & June Tabor
- Lady Franklin's Lament / Artisan
- The Dalesman's Litany / Tim Hart & Maddy Prior
- The Seasons / Peta Webb & Ken Hall
- Willow Tree / Eliza Carthy
- London Danny / Jez Lowe
- Cable Street / The Young 'Uns
- Song Of The Olive Tree / Janet Russell
- Sunday Morning, St. Denis / Roy Bailey
- Mary Hamilton / Ed Miller
- The Bonny Earl of Moray / Ian Campbell Folk Group
- A Parcel Of Rogues / Luke Kelly
- North Country Blues / Joan Baez
- As I Roved Out / Bobby Eaglesham
- Coming of the Roads / Kathy Mattea
- Tramps and Hawkers / Vernon Rose
- The Valley Of Strathmore / Silly Wizard
- The Wind That Shakes the Barley / Martin Carthy with Dave Swarbrick
- The Rigs O' Rye / Robin Dransfield
- Derwentwater's Farewell / Carolyn Robson
- The Bonny Light Horseman / Tony Rose
- Home Lads Home / Belshazzar's Feast
- Unknown Air / Duncan Chisholm
- Adieu My Lovely Nancy / Brian Peters
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.
