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 25 October 2021
This week’s music
- Look Over The Hill And Far Away / The Humblebums
- Sister Reynardine / Robb Johnson
- The Faint and Weary Traveller / Hannah James & Toby Kuhn
- Inveray (The Baron of Brackley) / Owen Hand
- Banks Of Marble / Lau
- The Unheard / Amy Thatcher
- Flora / Grace Toland
- The Dark Eyed Gypsy / Joe Holmes
- The Kilfrush The Trip To Durrow / Tommy Reck
- Jockey To The Fair / Simon Mayer & Hilary James
- Sumer Is Icumen In / Simon Mayer & Hilary James
- Milk and Honey / Sandy Denny
- Mollymuck / The Keelers
- Admiral Benbow / Strawhead
- The Wonder/Ridotta Rock / Cock And Bull Band
- Mighty Ben / Steve Warner
- Lady Eleanor / Lindisfarne
- John Barleycorn / Traffic
- Olives, Wine and Bread / Louis De Bernieres
- Vagabond Soul / Louis De Bernieres
- The Jolly Beggarman / Walsh & Pound
- Alizon Device / Laura Smyth & Ted Kemp
- Mary Aumbree / Terry Conway & Liz Law
- Deportees (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos) / Ralph McTell & Wizz Jones
- The Unfortunate Lass / Eliza Carthy
- Ball Of Yarn / Will Duke & Dan Quinn
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.
