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 1 August 2022
This week’s music
1. Wreck Of The Old 97 / Lonnie Donegan
2. Lovely Joan / Phantom Voices
3. The Cuckoo / Mishaped Pearls
4. The Banks Of The Foyle / Cara Dillon
5. Rosebuds In June / Jon Budworth
6. Keep You In Peace / Daniel & Emma Reid
7. Donal Og / Mairéad Ní Oistín
8. The Gap Of Dreams / Nia's Jig / The Beekeeper / Altan
9. The Trooper And The Maid / Hector Gilchrist
10. Poverty Knock / Pete Coe
11. Black Joke / Jim Moray Trio
12. Better Place To Be / Harry Chapin
13. The Minstrel / Graham And Eileen Pratt
14. Will Ye Go Tae Flanders (Album) / Ian Bruce
15. 1917 / Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris
16. Fare Thee Well, A Stór / Altan
17. The Tern And The Swallow / Cara Dillon
18. The Boy's Lament for his Dragon / Jamie MacDonald & Christian Gamauf
19. Though I Live Not Where I Love / Gemma Khawaja
20. The Broom 'O The Cowdenknowes / Mick West and Muldoon’s Picnic
21. Where Ravens Feed / Martyn Wyndham-Read
22. Mile High / Skerryvore
23. The Jolly Soldier/The Blarney Pilgrim / Andy Irvine & Paul Brady
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.
