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 20 March 2023
This week’s music
1. Rose of the Hill / Okavanga
2. Honest Labourer / The Copper Family
3. Working Chap (What a Crime) / Patterson, Jordan, Dipper
4. Neptune's Sons / Linda Watkins
5. The Elfin Knight / Tim Pomeroy
6. The Midpoint Of Winter / The Candlelight Reel / Gavin Marwick & Aaron Jones
7. Young London Waterman / Ed Rennie
8. The 'ouses in between / Cosmotheka
9. London Dance Song Medley / Albion Band
10. The Wife of Ushers Well / Jacqui McShee's Pentangle
11. Swale Song / Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay
12. My Youngest Son Came Home Today / Mary Black
13. The Lambeg Drummer / Frank Harte & Donal Lunny
14. There Were Roses / Tommy Sands
15. False Bride / Olivia Chaney
16. Black Girl / Snakefarm
17. Blood And Bones / Our Native Daughters
18. Four Loom Weaver / Swan Arcade
19. Norwich Gaol (The Convict) / Martin Winsor
20. Fare Ye Well Iona / Paul Anderson
21. Carrying Nelson Home / Mike O'Connor
22. The Song Of The Sea / Rod Shearman
23. Western Approaches / Steamchicken
24. Bonny Labouring Boy / Fran Foote, Belinda Kempster
25. The Welcome Sailor / Nancy Wallace
26. As I Roved Out / Vernon Rose
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.
