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 27th November 2023
This week’s music:
- The Robber Bridegroom / Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman
- Success To The Weavers / The Oldham Tinkers
- Scovill's Rolling Mill / Dan Milner & Bob Conroy
- Pinjarra Dreams / Julie Matthews
- Landfall / Barry Coope & Jez Lowe
- Every Hog-Armistice / Gavin Marwick & Phil Alexander
- Northern Sky / Nick Drake
- Fragile Water / Nancy Kerr
- All The Way To Rome / Gilmore & Roberts 4:14
- The Broken-Down Squatter / The Queensland Tiger
- Jim Jones / Damien Barber
- The Maid Of Australia / Peter Bellamy and Dave Swarbrick
- Young Charlotte / Pete Seeger
- The Wife Of Usher's Well / Peggy Seeger
- West Virginia, My Home / Hazel Dickens
- Duelling Banjos / Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell
- Normandy Orchards / Cockersdale
- Banks of Sicily / John Morran
- Maiden Lane / Purcell's Polyphonic Party
- Sheath & Knife / Christine Kydd
- The Snows / The Green House Band
- Young Edwin in the Lowlands / David Jones
- The Bold Poachers / The Owl Service
- Cousin Jack / Steve Knightley
- Gypsy Maid / Tim Van Eyken (featuring Nancy Kerr)
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.
