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 16 June 2026
This week’s music:
1. Talk To Me Of Mendocino / Kate & Anna McGarrigle
2. Rosebud In June / Steeleye Span
3. The Bogs Bank Disaster / Billy Mitchell and Jane Wade
4. The Humpback Whale / Sam Carter
5. Close To The Wind / Fairport Convention
6. Waterloo Dance / Owen Spafford, Will Allen and Ben Filmer-Sankey
7. The Elfin Knight / Clementine Lovell
8. Red Sun rising / Chris Brain
9. The Circle Game / Joni Mitchell
10. The Flower of Gortade / Len Graham
11. Galloways / Andrew Cadie
12. The Uttoxeter Souling Song / Turner's / Blowzabella
13. Rich Man's Daughter / Peta Webb
14. Reunion / Cyril Tawney
15. Polska / Bonfire Radicals
16. Coal Town Road / Cockersdale
17. Mining Medley / Chris & Steve Wilson
18. Coal Not Dole / Chris Sarjeant
19. Biko Drum / Christy Moore
20. Hymn To Che Guevara / Joan Mills
21. Jamaica / Our Captain Calls (Monks Gate) / Will Allen & Becci Pamely
22. Peggy Benn / Walter Pardon
23. The Manchester Rambler / Brian Peters
24. Death And The Lady / Bellowhead
25. The Streets Of London / The Critics Group
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.
