Matthew Bannister’s guest on this month’s Official Folk Albums Chart Show from Folk on Foot is the great Martin Simpson. He’ll be telling the fascinating stores behind some of the songs on his acclaimed album “Skydancers”. There’s a live performance from This Is The Kit filmed at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall, plus music from Daisy Rickman, India Electric Co., Phil Odgers and John Kettle and Dana Gavanski. --- We rely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like...

The singer and fiddle player Jackie Oates is joined by the squeezebox maestro John Spiers for a walk along the mighty River Thames in Oxfordshire. Between a song or two from the lace making industry, and a gorgeous “Lament To The Moon” Jackie talks about her passion for folk song and her recent training as a music therapist which took her into a hospice to help those nearing the end of their lives capture memories in song. She also recalls her folk-style wedding while John muses on the best...

Matthew Bannister’s guests on this month’s Official Folk Albums Chart Show are Grace Petrie talking about the inspiration behind her album “Build Something Better” and Sam Lee on how his passion for the natural world has shaped “songdreaming”. There’s also music from Joe Solo, Serious Sam Barrett, Martin Carthy, Cara Dillon, Amelia Coburn and John Smith. --- We rely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like what we do please either... Become a member and get...

A chance to hear one of our favourite podcasts: The Outdoors Fix, presented by hiker and journalist Liv Bolton and featuring an interview with Matthew Bannister. Liv’s aim is to inspire you to get outside and make the outdoors a bigger part of your life. An idea which – as you know – we’re very much in favour of. Normally the Outdoors Fix is recorded – well – outdoors. But that wasn’t possible during the Covid lockdowns. So, when Matthew was a guest in 2020, he connected with Liv online. If...

The trans pipe and fiddle player Malin Lewis grew up on a magical island off the West coast of Scotland. There were no roads or cars and their family were the only permanent residents. Home schooled till the age of seven, Malin had an idyllic childhood roaming the forests, building dens and splashing in the shallows on the white sand beaches. In this episode this rising star of the Scottish folk scene - with a hotly anticipated debut album about to be released - makes an emotional return to...

This month’s Official Folk Albums Chart Show from Folk on Foot features an interview with Katherine Priddy who is celebrating the success of her second album “The Pendulum Swings”. There’s also music from The Breath, Rachel Sermanni, The Longest Johns, Tapir! and Sir Bryn Terfel. --- We rely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like what we do please either... Become a patron and get great rewards: patreon.com/folkonfoot Or just buy us a coffee:...

Joe Boyd and John Wood were the producer and sound engineer behind some of the greatest folk rock albums of the 1960s and 70s. They worked with Pink Floyd on their first single Arnold Layne, with Fairport Convention on Unhalfbricking and Liege and Lief and with Nick Drake on Five Leaves Left, Bryter Later and Pink Moon. John produced John Martyn’s Bless The Weather and Solid Air while Joe worked with the Incredible String Band. In this conversation with Matthew Bannister on stage at the...

Come with us to the glorious Mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland to meet the band TRÚ. Taking their name from a mythological trio of poet-musicians from ancient Ulster, Zach Trouton, Dónal Kearney and Michael Mormecha combine Irish nationalist, Ulster-Scots and British-Ukrainian heritages, crossing boundaries which have often divided Northern Irish communities in the past. In this beautiful episode they are united in creating sweet close harmonies as they sing traditional songs against...

The Official Folk Albums Chart Show from Folk on Foot features guest appearances from Jon Cleave of the Fisherman’s Friends, reflecting on their extraordinary success and Ian A Anderson telling the story of the legendary Soho club Les Cousins which was at the heart of the folk and blues scene of the 1960s. There’s  music from John Renbourn, Hack Poets Guild, Show of Hands, OXN, Martyn Joseph and the Mary Wallopers. --- We rely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If...

The beloved baggy cloth cat Bagpuss is fifty years old in 2024. We celebrate his birthday by visiting Sandra Kerr at her home in the Northumberland village of Warkworth. Sandra co-wrote and arranged the music for the series and provided some of the voices. In her cosy music room she shows us her Bagpuss souvenirs, reflects on the show’s enduring appeal and sings one of the songs. Then, on a walk along the River Coquet, Sandra looks back to the folk revival of the 1960s, recalling working as a...

In the Official Folk Albums Chart of the Year Show 2023, Matthew Bannister counts down the biggest selling and most streamed folk albums of the year. There are guest appearances by Sean Cooney of the Young’Uns, Kathryn Tickell, Shirley Collins and Johnny Flynn and Robert Macfarlane, plus exclusive performances from James Yorkston and Nina Persson, Angeline Morrison and Katherine Priddy. Matthew also features highlights of the December chart, including an interview with Jim Moray and music...

This year’s seasonal episode takes us to the village of Mallwyd in mid Wales to join the ancient tradition of the plygain carols. On a dark, cold night, local people gather in the warm and welcoming St Tydecho’s Church to sing Welsh language carols which have been handed down through successive generations of their families. They’re joined by Gwilym Bowen Rhys who unearthed his carol in a second hand book shop and by Owen Shiers (Cynefin) whose singing group travels around several plygain...

Johnny Flynn and Robert Macfarlane are Matthew Bannister's guests on this month's Official Folk Albums Chart Show from Folk on Foot. They talk about the inspiration behind their new album "The Moon Also Rises" in a conversation that ranges across ancient burial chambers, a love song for Cosmo Sheldrake's wedding, composing on the South Downs and wassailing. There's also music from Thea Gilmore, Catrin Finch and Aoife Ni Bhriain, Bryony Griffith and Alice Jones, Show of Hands and Kerry...

Come to “The Edge of the Land” with the wonderful singer, songwriter and guitarist Katie Spencer. She was born and brought up in East Yorkshire. In this episode she takes us to one of her favourite places: Spurn Point, a narrow spit of land that stretches three miles out into the sea. As we head for the lighthouse at the end, she sings some of her gorgeous songs on the beach and talks about her musical inspiration, but will we be cut off by the tide? --- We rely entirely on support from our...

This month’s Official Folk Albums Chart Show from Folk on Foot features an interview with Martin Simpson about “Nothing But Green Willow”, his trans-Atlantic collaboration with Thomm Jutz and a host of amazing singers. Plus there’s music from Matthew and the Atlas, Track Dogs, Chris Brain, The Breath, Finbar Furey, Skinny Lister and The Mary Wallopers.  --- We rely entirely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like what we do please either... Donate to the Folk...

Jon Wilks is singlehandedly bringing folk music to a wider audience, through his excellent TradFolk website and Old Songs Podcast and of course by singing and playing the music itself. In this episode, he takes us for a walk around the stomping grounds of his youth in the centre of Birmingham, sharing his fascinating insights into the history of music making in the city and performing songs on the very spot where they were originally collected. Oh, and then there’s the sausage roll incident...

This month’s Official Folk Albums Chart Show from Folk on Foot features an interview with the wonderful Northumbrian pipe and fiddle player Kathryn Tickell. There’s also music from Ninebarrow, The Gentle Good, Daphne’s Flight, The Melrose Quartet, The Tumbling Paddies, Rachel Sermanni and Lankum. --- We rely entirely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like what we do please either... Donate to the Folk on Foot Big Walk 2023: folkonfoot.com/bigwalk Become a...

When the Scottish Burmese sound artist Fiona Soe Paing discovered that one of her ancestors was a traditional singer, she resolved to make a contemporary electronic album reflecting the music and folk tales of her home county of Aberdeenshire. On this walk up Bennachie and then along the coast, she sings some of the songs on the very spot where they were inspired, including John Hosie’s Well (said to have sprung from the ground where his tears fell when he returned from a long imprisonment to...

This month’s Official Folk Albums Chart Show from Folk on Foot features live performances by The Eliza Carthy Trio (filmed at Sidmouth) and The Young’Uns (filmed in the back room of the Duck pub in Campsea Ash, Suffolk during host Matthew Bannister’s Big Walk for the charity Help Musicians.) There’s also music from Breabach, Skerryvore, Karine Polwart and Kris Drever, Lankum and Gaz Brookfield. --- We rely entirely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like what...

On August 4th 2023, Folk on Foot host Matthew Bannister set off on his biggest walk yet. Over two weeks, he covered 186 miles from Wickham Festival in Hampshire to Folk East in Suffolk, raising thousands of pounds for the charity Help Musicians. Every evening he was met (in a pub, of course), by some of the folk world’s finest musicians. This bonus episode treats you to the musical highlights that spurred Matthew on his way. You will hear: Day 1: Rosie Hodgson and Rowan Piggott of...

On 4th August 2023, Folk on Foot host Matthew Bannister set off on his biggest walk yet: from Wickham Festival in Hampshire to Folk East in Suffolk. Over two weeks, he covered 186 miles, took 465,137 steps and raised thousands of pounds for the charity Help Musicians. Each evening, he was joined in the pub by some of the folk world’s finest musicians, who sang and played to revive his flagging spirits. This episode tells the inside story of the walk, using Matthew’s private audio diaries and...

This month’s Official Folk Albums Chart Show from Folk on Foot includes music from The Longest Johns, The Sea Song Sessions, Jacko Hooper, Brigid Mae Power, The Lilac Time and Seth Lakeman. Host Matthew Bannister also has the latest news on his 180 mile Big Walk raising money for the charity Help Musicians, which starts at the Wickham Festival in Hampshire on Friday 4th August. --- We rely entirely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like what we do please...

This is our highest ever episode. We climbed to the top of Yorkshire’s tallest peak - Whernside - with the singer/songwriter Johnny Campbell and the fiddle player Mikey Kenney to help Johnny record a track for his forthcoming album “True North”. He’s recording each track at the summit of one of the highest peaks in the North of England. Along the way we discuss his passion for Northern folk music, his love of walking and his determination to campaign for a Right to Roam. It’s a big climb -...

The guest on this month’s Official Folk Albums Chart Show is the inimitable Shirley Collins. She’ll be explaining how she managed to include memories of her sister Dolly, her Uncle Fred and her father in her acclaimed new album “Archangel Hill”. Host Matthew Bannister will be talking about his Big Walk in aid of the charity Help Musicians – 180 miles in 2 weeks in August – and there is music from Siobhan Miller, Roseanne Reid, Hannah Sanders and Ben Savage, Magpie Arc, Jim Ghedi and Toby Hay...