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 Chair (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
Tuesday 18 March 2025
This week’s music:
1. Twenty, Eighteen / Belshazzar's Feast
2. The Blacksmith / Rachael McShane & The Cartographers
3. Canadee I O / Luke Daniels
4. Remember / Broom Bezzums
5. The Fisher Lad Of Whitby / Malin Hill
6. Bagpipers / Leveret
7. 1845 / Jeff Warner
8. Sweet Sunny South / Sara Grey and Keiron Means
9. The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore / Kathy Mattea
10. Senor / Steve Knightley
11. Wayfaring Stranger / Broom Bezzums
12. Dic Penderyn / Martyn Joseph
13. The Dark Island / Alan Bell
14. The Island / Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger
15. Beautiful Island / Jacqui McShee & Kevin Dempsey
16. The Kielder Hunt / Johnny Handle
17. Sally Wheatley / Bob Fox & Stu Luckley
18. Our Kate/The Welcome Home / Kathryn Tickell
19. The Mantle So Green / Kevin Mitchell
20. The Creggan White Hare / Marianne McAleer
21. Shivering Stone / Rachael McShane & The Cartographers
22. The Bold Fisherman / Vicki Swan & Jonny Dyer
23. Spencer The Rover / Robin Dransfield
Also available to stream:
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.
