Folk on Foot

Delve into the history of madness as we walk with the “broken folk” duo Lunatraktors in the 200 acre grounds of the Bethlem Royal Hospital in South London. Clair le Couteur and Carli Jefferson are fascinated by the story of the hospital which was founded in the 13th century by monks - and nicknamed “Bedlam”. They perform songs inspired by the place including a mash up of “Tom O’Bedlam” with “Mad Maudlin” and “Through Moorfields”. They also don their “hazard bear” costumes for s spot of improvised overtone singing.

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Find out more about Lunatraktors at https://www.lunatraktors.space/

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Jon Boden is Matthew’s guest on this month’s Official Folk Albums Chart Show, bringing an exclusive performance of one of the Parlour Ballads from his new album. There’s also music from Talisk, Mairearad Green and Rachel Newton, Henry Parker and David Ian Roberts, The Shovel Dance Collective, The Rheingans Sisters, Naima Bock and Nina Nesbitt.

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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 great rewards: patreon.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/

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Enjoy this classic episode from August 2020

The award winning singer, songwriter and guitarist Chris Wood has lived in Kent all his life. “If you keep moving around, how much can you trust your judgement?” he asks. “If you stop where you are, the world does eventually come to you.” Since the Brexit referendum and election of 2019, Chris has been in challenging mood. On this walk with his dog Dancer and Matthew Bannister, Chris performs his song “Take Back Control” and contrasts the commuters on the London-bound platform at 6 every morning with what he calls “the slope-shouldered, whey-faced broken people” in Faversham’s greasy spoons and declining market place. “This is my muse,” he tells us. “This darkness and this hypocrisy and these contradictions – I thrive on it”.

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We rely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like what we do please either...

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Find out more about Chris at chriswoodmusic.co.uk

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For four hundred years, Stourbridge in the West Midlands was at the heart of Britain’s glass making industry. The local landscape was dotted with distinctive brick built cones, or chimneys, where the glass was made. The local singer and songwriter Dan Whitehouse made an album called “Voices From The Cones” based on recordings of the memories of glass workers. In this extraordinary episode he takes us to a former glass works - now a college teaching craft skills to neurodivergent students - and sings the songs inspired by this fascinating industry. And Matthew gets to try his hand at glass blowing!

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We rely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like what we do please either...

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Find out more about Dan at https://www.dan-whitehouse.com/

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This month’s show features a beautiful live performance by Cara Dillon at the Grand Opera House in Belfast plus music from Gnoss, Hannah Sanders and Ben Savage, Gryphon, The Wandering Hearts, Martin Simpson and Skerryvore. Lucy Shields has all the gig and album release info and there’s news of a new episode of Folk on Foot featuring glass blowing.

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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 great rewards: patreon.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/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Enjoy this classic episode from August 2018

Eliza Carthy inherited her love of English music from her famous folk singing parents, Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson. Norma had recently suffered a serious illness and Eliza moved back to the family home in the North Yorkshire fishing village of Robin Hood’s Bay to look after her. Eliza takes Matthew on a walk along the cliffs near her home, reflecting on her family heritage and then on to the farm where the whole extended family used to live when she was a child. Martin, Norma and Eliza’s aunt Ann and cousin Marry gather at the kitchen table for a rousing and emotional sing.

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We rely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like what we do please either...

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Find out more about Eliza at https://eliza-carthy.com/

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The cellist, singer and environmental campaigner Sarah Smout takes us for a beautiful summer walk along the River Wharfe in North Yorkshire. Along the way she explains how her love of the natural world inspires her music and stops to play, sing and read one of her poems. Then we head up to Fleet Moss where a five-year-long project has been restoring the badly damaged peat bog - which is vital for carbon capture. Jenny Sharman of the Yorkshire Peat Partnership joins us to tell the fascinating story behind the work - then Sarah sings the song inspired by it.

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We rely on support from our listeners to keep this show on the road. If you like what we do please either...

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Find out more about Sarah at https://www.sarahsmoutmusic.co.uk/

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Matthew’s guest on this month’s show is the wonderful Jenny Sturgeon talking about her epic 864km walk from the Scottish borders to Cape Wrath - and sharing the evocative sounds she recorded along the way. There’s also a live performance from The Breath filmed at Cornwall’s spectacular Minack Theatre, plus music from Kathryn Tickell and the Darkening, John Smith, Sam Carter, Katherine Priddy, Johnny Flynn and Robert Macfarlane, Tumbling Paddies and Richard Thompson.

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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 great rewards: patreon.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/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Young’uns are three award winning troubadours from Teeside. Sean Cooney, David Eagle and Michael Hughes take Matthew Bannister on a walk round the historic headland of Hartlepool where Sean used to live in a shed in his parents’ back garden. Along the way they tell stories and sing songs inspired by the location, visiting the medieval Sandwell Gate, St Hilda’s Church and the Heugh Battery, site of the only First World War battle to take place on British soil. They end up in the Pot House pub, where the Young’uns used to run a folk club, singing Cooney’s original composition “The Hartlepool Pedlar”. There may also be time for a pint.

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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 great rewards: patreon.com/folkonfoot

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Find out more about the Young'Uns at https://www.theyounguns.co.uk/

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The Anglo-Irish band Ranagri take us for a walk on the farm that gave them their name. The family of guitarist and singer Dónal Rogers have worked this land in County Carlow since the 1600s. His Mum, Lena, still lives there and tells stories of growing up in the three room thatched farm house she shared with her mother and ten siblings. There was no electricity or running water and all cooking was on the open fire. Horses were used to pull the plough. Then Ranagri play the music inspired by her memories.

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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 great rewards: patreon.com/folkonfoot

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Find out more about Ranagri at https://ranagri.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.