Folk on Foot

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Episodes

“Modest people, playing gorgeous music, speaking articulately about areas they love. Fabulously calming” – one listener’s description of this multi-award-winning podcast in which Matthew Bannister goes walking with top folk musicians in the landscapes that have inspired them. “A restorative breathing space in sound” – The Telegraph. “Immaculately produced” – The Times

Episodes

Friday Nov 17, 2023

Katie Spencer at Spurn Point

Friday Nov 17, 2023

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?

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We rely entirely 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: ko-fi.com/folkonfoot

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Find out more about Katie at https://www.katiespencer.net/

Tuesday Nov 07, 2023

Official Folk Albums Chart Show—7th November 2023

Tuesday Nov 07, 2023

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.

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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 patron and get great rewards: patreon.com/folkonfoot

Or just buy us a coffee: ko-fi.com/folkonfoot

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Subscribe to the Folk Forecast to explore all the gigs and album news we ran through in the show: https://thefolkforecast.substack.com/

Friday Oct 13, 2023

Jon Wilks in Birmingham

Friday Oct 13, 2023

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 in Greggs!

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We rely entirely 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: ko-fi.com/folkonfoot

---

Find out more about Jon at https://jonwilks.online/

Friday Sep 15, 2023

Fiona Soe Paing in Aberdeenshire

Friday Sep 15, 2023

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 find his lover was married to another) and the rock where Maggie Machlin is said to have died from exposure after being ostracised for falling pregnant out of wedlock.

Then it’s off to the fishing village of Pennan, for an atmospheric performance of The Fisher’s Lullaby on the beach and a 40th anniversary screening of the classic film Local Hero in the village hall.

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We rely entirely 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: ko-fi.com/folkonfoot

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Find out more about Fiona at https://www.fionasoepaing.co.uk/

Walk with Fiona's album via the Echoes app: https://explore.echoes.xyz/collections/sov0xzgBQYdoAfFr

Friday Sep 01, 2023

The Music of the Big Walk

Friday Sep 01, 2023

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 The Wilderness Yet: “The Bee Boy Song”

Day 2: Steve Knightley, Johnnie Kalsi and Eliza Marshall: “Dakota” (by Kelly Jones)

Day 3: Eliza Marshall: “The Rhythms of Migration”; Jon Wilks: “Greek Street”

Day 4: Martin Simpson: “Skydancers”

Day 5: Janice Burns and Jon Doran: “As I Roved Out”

Day 6: Kirsty Merryn: “The Larks They Sang Melodious (Pleasant and Delightful)”

Day 8 (breakfast!): Honey and the Bear with Toby Shaer: “Around the World”

Day 8 (evening): Megson: “And Finally”

Day 9: Sid Goldsmith and Danny Pedler of Tarren: “Sunk”

Day 10: Bird in the Belly: “Neighbours and Sisters”

Day 11: Katie Spencer:”The Edge of the Land”

Day 12: Knight and Spiers: “Halsway Schottische”

Day 13: Bella Hardy: ”Rhapsody on the Peak of Derbyshire”

Day 14: The Young Uns: “Three Dads Walking” and “John Ball”

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We rely entirely 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: ko-fi.com/folkonfoot

---

Friday Aug 25, 2023

The Story of The Big Walk

Friday Aug 25, 2023

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 highlights of the glorious music that carried him on his way.

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We rely entirely 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: ko-fi.com/folkonfoot

---

Friday Jul 14, 2023

Johnny Campbell & Mikey Kenney on Whernside

Friday Jul 14, 2023

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 - but the view from the top is spectacular!

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We rely entirely 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: ko-fi.com/folkonfoot

---

Find out more about Johnny at https://johnnycampbell.co.uk/ and Mikey at https://mikeykenney.co.uk/

Friday Jun 16, 2023

Angeline Morrison in North Cornwall

Friday Jun 16, 2023

Angeline Morrison’s “The Sorrow Songs - Folk Songs of Black British Experience” was one of the most significant albums of recent times. On this walk near her home in North Cornwall, Angeline talks about her deep love for traditional music and her determination to chronicle in song the experiences of black Britons through history. By the grave of the master and slave who are buried together she sings “Slave No More” and on the beach where she first composed it, she performs “Unknown African Boy, (died 1830)”. There’s also time for a beautiful song in the Cornish language and her unaccompanied version of “Bushes and Briars”.

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We rely entirely 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: ko-fi.com/folkonfoot

---

Find out more about Angeline at https://www.angelinemorrisonmusic.com/

Friday May 19, 2023

James Yorkston and Nina Persson in Tentsmuir Forest

Friday May 19, 2023

The Fife based singer/songwriter James Yorkston and the Cardigans lead singer Nina Persson teamed up with the Swedish Second Hand Orchestra to make the gorgeous album “The Great White Sea Eagle”. On this atmospheric walk through Tentsmuir Forest on the Scottish coast just north of St Andrews, James explains why he comes to the forest to find calm and space. Nina recalls her hectic time as a pop star in the 1990s and they share insights into their inspiration and creative process. Then their voices blend beautifully as they sing under the shade of the trees.

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We rely entirely 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: ko-fi.com/folkonfoot

---

Find out more about James and Nina at https://www.jamesyorkston.co.uk/

Friday Apr 14, 2023

Katherine Priddy at Alvechurch & Tanworth in Arden

Friday Apr 14, 2023

Katherine Priddy grew up in the village of Alvechurch in the West Midlands, writing songs as a teenager which eventually ended up on her beautiful debut album “The Eternal Rocks Beneath”. On a walk in the nearby countryside, she sings two of them before we move on to Tanworth in Arden where Nick Drake is buried. Katherine is part of a stellar line up of artists who’ve been invited to re-interpret Nick’s songs for a new album. By his grave she sings his compositions “They’re Leaving Me Behind” and “Cello Song”. It’s an emotional tribute from one young artist to another.

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We rely entirely 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: ko-fi.com/folkonfoot

---

Find out more about Katherine at https://www.katherinepriddy.co.uk/