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 Mar 17, 2023

Amy-Jane Beer and Cynefin along the River Clettwr

Friday Mar 17, 2023

Why do rivers play such a vital role in our lives, culture and folklore? In this glorious episode, the nature writer Amy-Jane Beer, author of “The Flow”, joins the Welsh singer and songwriter Owen Shiers (also known as Cynefin) on a walk up the beautiful River Clettwr in Ceredigion. There are songs and stories aplenty and even a game of Pooh sticks.

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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 Cynefin at https://cynefinmusic.wales/

Get hold of Amy's book at https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781472977397?gC=5a105e8b

Friday Feb 17, 2023

Freedom To Roam in the Malvern Hills

Friday Feb 17, 2023

Freedom To Roam is a music and multi-media project dreamed up by the flautist Eliza Marshall as a response to many of the pressing issues facing us right now. On this walk climbing the glorious Malvern Hills she is joined by Catrin Finch (harp), Andrew Morgan (percussion) Donal Rogers (piano, guitar and more) and Jackie Shave (violin) to share the exquisite music they’ve created to tell a story of migration, liberation and care for our planet.

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Delve deeper into the Folk on Foot world and keep us on the road by becoming a Patron—sign up at patreon.com/folkonfoot.
You can choose your level and get great rewards, ranging from a stylish Folk on Foot badge to access to our amazing and ever expanding Folk on Foot on Film video archive of more than 150 unique performances filmed on our travels.

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Find out more about Freedom to Roam at https://www.freedomtoroam.earth/

Friday Jan 13, 2023

Maddy Prior and Rose-Ellen Kemp at Stones Barn in Cumbria

Friday Jan 13, 2023

“The snow it is lying on Bewcastle Fell
And the wind strips the skin from my face.
The bare bones of a tree give some shelter to me
But still it’s a draughty old place.”

Come to “the least populated area of the least populated county in England” and take shelter from the elements in the warm welcome of Stones Barn where Maddy Prior of Steeleye Span and her daughter Rose-Ellen Kemp are hosting one of their acclaimed singing weekends. Guest tutor Martin Carthy reveals how he discovered the joys of traditional singing when he was just seventeen years old – and Maddy and Rose-Ellen take us to Bewcastle Church to see the 6^th Century cross commemorating St Cuthbert and sing in its glorious acoustic.

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Find out more about Stones Barn at https://stonesbarn.co.uk/

Friday Dec 16, 2022

The Wexford Carols with Caitriona O’Leary

Friday Dec 16, 2022

A festive episode featuring the Wexford Carols sung by the beautiful voice of Caitriona O’Leary. The carols came out of the persecution of Catholics in Wexford in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and were written by Bishop Luke Waddinge and Father William Devereux. Caitriona takes Matthew Bannister to the Franciscan church where Bishop Waddinge is buried and to St Aidan’s Cathedral in Enniscorthy where the area’s most famous carol was collected. We also meet the retired fisherman Dixie Devereux whose father sang the carols every Christmas for 62 years – and who is now passing on the tradition to his own son. A fascinating story with gorgeous music creating an atmospheric, seasonal experience.

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Find out more about The Wexford Carols at https://thewexfordcarols.com/

Friday Nov 11, 2022

Jon Boden, Seth Lakeman, Ben Nicholls, Emily Portman and Jack Rutter on a tall ship

Friday Nov 11, 2022

Ahoy there! A folk supergroup – The Sea Song Sessions - playing and singing on board a tall ship in Fowey Harbour in Cornwall as the water laps the hull. A discussion of the role of seafaring music in our island history. And a tour of the good ship Anny of Charlestown from her skipper. Shiver me timbers – it’s a great listen!

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Find out more about Sea Song Sessions at https://www.topicrecords.co.uk/2022/08/sea-song-sessions/

Friday Oct 14, 2022

Gwilym Bowen Rhys in Aberdaron

Friday Oct 14, 2022

Come for a wild, wet and windy walk on the beach at Aberdaron on the Llyn peninsula in Wales with the singer and songwriter Gwilym Bowen Rhys. Then join us in the local church where Gwilym demonstrates his musical versatility, accompanying himself on the guitar, fiddle, harmonica and organ and throwing in a whistling solo for good measure. He sings a song about a local shipwreck and shows us the grave of the victims in the churchyard. We learn about local history, Welsh language and culture and Gwilym’s own inspiration in another fascinating episode.

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Find out more about Gwilym at https://www.gwilymbowenrhys.com/

Monday Sep 19, 2022

Folk on Foot Trailer

Monday Sep 19, 2022

What is the multi-award-winning Folk on Foot all about? The Telegraph calls it “a restorative breathing space in sound”. In this sampler, host Matthew Bannister shares beautiful extracts from episodes featuring Karine Polwart on Fala Moor, Eliza Carthy and family at Robin Hood’s Bay, Jenny Sturgeon in Shetland, Richard Thompson in Muswell Hill, Duncan Chisholm at Sandwood Bay, The Unthanks on the Northumberland Coast, Robert Macfarlane and Johnny Flynn at Wandlebury, Peggy Seeger in Iffley and The Young’uns in Hartlepool. Dip your toe in the water here before diving into all our glorious episodes.

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Friday Sep 16, 2022

The Dance of the Commons at the Englefield Estate

Friday Sep 16, 2022

On a hot August day, scores of walkers in weird, wacky and wonderful costumes inspired by old English traditions, accompanied by morris dancers and musicians, set off to stage a peaceful and joyful mass trespass. Led by Herne the Hunter (Book of Trespass author Nick Hayes) and singer Sam Lee, they targeted the Englefield Estate near Reading, thousands of acres owned by Lord Benyon, the government minister for rural affairs. In this episode, we hear them dance into the estate, explain why they demand the right to roam and share their ceremony celebrating nature under the shade of a mighty oak.

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Find out more about Nick Hayes and the Right to Roam movement at righttoroam.org.uk.

Monday Sep 12, 2022

Bonus Episode: Maddy Prior and Peter Knight in conversation at Cecil Sharp House

Monday Sep 12, 2022

Singer Maddy Prior and violinist Peter Knight were at the heart of the success of folk rock pioneers Steeleye Span. In this candid interview with Matthew Bannister on stage at the Indoor Festival of Folk at Cecil Sharp House, they recall the heady days of rock n roll excess during the 1970s and movingly describe the role of music in their lives. Peter reveals he once appeared on Top of the Pops dressed as a Womble and Maddy describes the gig where they dropped thousands of pound notes onto the heads of the audience. The band is famous for having countless different line ups and they speak about the rows that often led to one or more members departing. A fascinating conversation with two legendary names of the folk world.

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Find out more about Maddy Prior at https://stonesbarn.co.uk/

Find out more about Peter Knight at https://www.peterknight.net/

Friday Aug 12, 2022

Fay Hield at the Soundpost Weekend in Dungworth

Friday Aug 12, 2022

The singer, songwriter and academic Fay Hield invites us to a Soundpost Singing Weekend in the village of Dungworth on the outskirts of Sheffield. Guests include Sean Cooney of the Young’uns and Rowan Rheingans who wrote special songs for the event. But mostly we walk in the surrounding countryside with Fay and her dog, hearing her sing, learning about her life in music and debating the big issues like “what is folk music?” and “why does it matter?”

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Find out more about Fay Hield at https://www.fayhield.com/

Find out more about Soundpost at https://www.soundpost.org.uk/