Classic Folk with Mike Norris
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 5 April 2021
This week’s music
1. Fiddler's Green / John Conolly
2. The Bonny Lassie / Tony Cuffe
3. Lily Bulero / Barry Dransfield
4. Whittingham Fair / Anna Tam
5. The Time Song / Alden Patterson and Dashwood
6. Billy in the Lowground / Blair Dunlop
7. Riley the Fisherman / Coope, Boyes & Simpson
8. Molly Ban / Ushers Island
9. Petrichor / Paul Hutchinson
10. Linden Lea / Steve Tilston & Maggie Boyle
11. The Banks of Claudy / The Expatriate Game
12. Fair Annie / Steve Tilston & Maggie Boyle
13. Stone Walls and Steel Bars / Ronnie Bowman, Don Rigsby and Kenny Smith
14. Mountain Strings / Sierra Hull
15. The Dark Eyed Sailor / Ken Wilson
16. Lady Leroy / Andy Irvine
17. Three Servants / Luke Daniels
18. Rio Grande / Tim Radford
19. Santy Anna _ Whip Jamboree / Roger Watson
20. The Alabama / Kimber's Men
21. Talcahuano / Barrie & Ingrid Temple
22. Baltic Street / Sylvia Barnes
23. King Of The Gypsies / Old Swan Band
24. An Rogaire Dubh (jig) / Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill
25. The Banks of the Liffey / The Brothers Gillespie
26. Bonny Moorhen / Martin and Eliza Carthy
27. The Parting Glass / The Witches of Elswick
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.
