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 15 August 2022
This week’s music
1. Solid Ground / Dolores Keane
2. John Harrison's Hands / Brian McNeill
3. Robin Hood And The Pedlar / Barry Dransfield
4. Female Drummer / Fran Foote, Belinda Kempster
5. Goin' Te The Mine / Graham And Sam Pirt
6. Cry Of The Curlew / Marianne McAleer
7. Adieu To Old England Adieu / Jim Eldon
8. Song In The Night / Fara
9. Coming Home / Rusty Shackle
10. House on the Hill / Anam
11. Biko Drum / Christy Moore
12. Biko / Peter Gabriel
13. The Death Of Stephen Biko / Tom Paxton
14. Abroad as I Was Walking / Craig Morgan Robson
15. Jack Orion / Barry Lister
16. Hind Horn / Chris Coe
17. Summer Before The War / Fairport Convention
18. English Summer / Johnny Dickinson
19. Are These the Last Days of Summer / Matt Quinn & Owen Woods
20. Noble Helen of Cluden / Claire Hastings
21. Elvira Madigan / Mr Fox
22. The Hunslet and Holbeck Moor Cockfight / Briony Griffith & Alice Jones
23. Red Haired Man's Wife / Tarras
24. The Barley Straw / TradArrr
25. Resolution / Andrew Finn and Sean Gray
26. The Final Trawl / Davy Steele
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.
