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 13 May 2025
This week’s music:
1. Who's The Fool Now / Tim Hart & Maddy Prior
2. Congleton Bear/Whittlesea Straw Bear / Jackie Oates & John Spiers
3. Fair Warning / The Rails
4. The May Morning Dew / Rita Gallagher
5. Bonnie Mae / Solas
6. The Smoky Smirr O Rain / Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvo
7. I'm Shy, Mary Ellen, I'm Shy / Tony Barrand
8. The 'ouses in between / Cosmotheka
9. The Wedding Secret / Maggie Moore & Stan Bloor
10. The Coast of Peru / A.L. Lloyd
11. The Mary Ellen Carter / Stan Rogers
12. Fear An Bhata (The Boatman) / Connie Dover
13. The Creel / Stuart Carolan
14. This Old House / Maz O'Connor
15. Bold Henry Martin / Rag Foundation
16. Are Ye Sleepin', Maggie / Ray Fisher
17. Lass Of The Moorland Hill / Steve Turner
18. Wilderness Brae / The Golden Road / Colin McDonald's Welcome to Fetteresso
19. American Stranger / Faustus
20. The Old Man From Over The Sea / Lankum
21. The Elfin Knight / Tim Pomeroy
22. The Drunken Butcher Of Tideswell / Bella Hardy
23. Venus In Tweeds / Shooglenifty
24. The Buxom Lass / Emily Portman, Lauren McCormick
25. Jute Mill Song / Solarference
26. New Delhi Freight Train / Dave Burland And The Awkward Squad
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.
