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 7 January 2025
This week’s music:
2. Ain't That The Way / Devon Sproule
3. Fiddle Diddle / Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers
4. The Verdant Braes Of Screen / Altan
5. The Old Miser / Faustus
6. Dark Eyed Sailor / Ruth Notman
7. Hills Of Home / Hazel Dickens
8. Union Man / Blue Highway
9. Lusignac / Ducie
10. Crazy Man Michael / Fairport Convention
11. W*O*L*D / Harry Chapin
12. Stolen Purse / Lúnasa
13. Dance With Me, Morag / Isabel Sutherland
14. My Last Farewell to Stirling / Jimmy Hutchison
15. The Laird O' Drum / Gordeanna McCulloch
16. The Charlady's Son / Mike Waterson
17. The London Murder / Carolyne Hughes
18. If It Wasn't for the 'Ouses In Between / Gus Elen
19. Father Had A Knife / Will Duke & Dan Quinn
20. Colin And Phoebe / Ed Rennie
21. The Here and Now / Chris While & Julie Matthews
22. Frenchy Set / Methera
23. Sons of Liberty / Nancy Kerr & James Fagan
24. The Bold Dragoon / Dave & Toni Arthur
25. My Singing Bird / Dave Swarbrick
26. Young Simon John / Ruth and Sadie Price
27. Blackwaterside / The GreenHouse Band
28. The Night Before Larry Was Stretched / Elvis Costello
29. Horn Dance / Sharron Kraus
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.
