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 16 April 2024
This week’s music:
- Green Grow The Rushes / Altan
- The Lady Leroy / The Battlefield Band
- Seven Long Years / Nick Dow
- The Cornwall Apprentice / Nick Wyke and Becki Driscoll
- The Cruel Sister / Ceoltóirí
- Sweet Greens And Blues / Shirley Collins
- The Boundary Stone / Reg Meuross
- Repeal Of The Union / The Gloaming
- The Whitby Fisher Lad / Tom McConville
- Farewell To Tarwathie / Campbell, Alex
- Roisin The Bow / The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem
- Dublin In The Rare Oul Times / The Dubliners
- Irish Session / Barry Dransfield
- Ship In Distress / Barrie & Ingrid Temple
- The Old Triangle / Bert Jansch & Beth Orton
- McBride's / Feast of Fiddles
- Jenny of the Moor / Amsher
- Philadelphia / Peter Bellamy
- The Bristol Slaver / Show Of Hands
- Ox Ploughing / Bob Lewis
- Farmers Toast / Bill Whaley & Dave Fletcher
- Oranges in Bloom/The Castle Minuet / Bryony Griffiths
- Peggy Gordon / Lucy Farrell & Jonny Kearney
- Treadmill Song / Hanging Johnny / Shreds And Patches / Magpie Lane
- Fill 'Em Up Rosie / The John Kirkpatrick Band
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.