Folk on Foot

Matthew Bannister

“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

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127 episodes
Updated Yesterday

Episodes127

Newest first

Jul 15, 2021 · 55 min
Jenny Sturgeon in Shetland
The singer, songwriter and artist Jenny Sturgeon has made her home on Shetland, a group of wild and wonderful islands in the North Atlantic. Her latest album “The Living Mountain” was inspired by the classic book about the Cairngorms by Nan Shepherd....
Jun 17, 2021 · 53 min
Sam Sweeney at Swift's Hill
The wonderful English fiddle player Sam Sweeney has been a key member of Bellowhead, Leveret, Eliza Carthy’s Wayward Band and many other collaborations. He’s also made two acclaimed solo albums. He takes us up to the top of Swift’s Hill, where he pla...
May 13, 2021 · 54 min
Jim Ghedi (and Friends) in Crookes and the Moss Valley
A finger style guitarist with a uniquely impassioned vocal style, Jim Ghedi was born and brought up in the Crookes area of Sheffield. He takes Matthew Bannister to his Nan and Grandad’s terraced house where he heard a lot of Irish music as a child. J...
Apr 15, 2021 · 50 min
Germa Adan in the Sandwell Valley
The singer, fiddle, guitar and ukulele player Germa Adan was born in Haiti, grew up in Florida and now lives in the UK. She says the RSPB reserve in the Sandwell Valley has been her place of calm during the lockdowns – where she goes to contemplate a...
Mar 12, 2021 · 49 min
Cosmo Sheldrake in Boulsbury Wood
The multi talented musician, producer and lover of the natural world Cosmo Sheldrake takes Matthew Bannister for a walk in the wood near his home in Hampshire. As well as creating electronic music from the song of endangered bird species and the soun...
Feb 19, 2021 · 1 hr 43 min
Festival of LOVE: The Original Songs
23 amazing folk acts each performing an original love song for the Folk on Foot Festival of LOVE on Valentine’s Day 2021, featuring Heidi Talbot: Easter Snow; Seth Lakeman: The White Hare; Lady Nade: Sweet Honey Bee; Kris Drever: When We Roll In The ...
Feb 17, 2021 · 1 hr 51 min
Festival of LOVE: The Traditional Songs
23 amazing folk acts each performing a traditional love song for the Folk on Foot Festival of LOVE on Valentine’s Day 2021, featuring Nancy Kerr and James Fagan: The Streams of Lovely Nancy: Heidi Talbot: The Blackest Crow; Seth Lakeman: Portrait of ...
Feb 15, 2021 · 1 hr 55 min
Festival of LOVE: The Covers
23 amazing folk acts each performing a cover version of a love song for the Folk on Foot Festival of LOVE on Valentine’s Day 2021, featuring Heidi Talbot: I Love You/Tom Waits and Allelujah/First of a Million Kisses/Fairground Attraction; Seth Lakem...
Jan 22, 2021 · 57 min
The Rheingans Sisters in Grindleford
Come with us to the back garden of a house in the Peak District village of Grindleford. There, in a magical atmospheric workshop with fiddles, banjos and drying gourds hanging from the ceiling, we find the Rheingans Sisters and their Dad Helmut, who ...
Dec 18, 2020 · 1 hr 7 min
Richard Thompson in Muswell Hill (and other parts of London)
The legendary guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson takes Matthew Bannister for a walk around the areas of London where he grew up, began playing the guitar, formed Fairport Convention (inventing English folk rock) and joined the vibrant music s...
Oct 22, 2020 · 54 min
O'Hooley & Tidow in the Colne Valley
Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow have an uncanny ability to move you to tears one moment then have you roaring with laughter the next. In summer 2020 they were planning to capitalise on the new found fame caused by having their song “Gentleman Jack” ...
Oct 8, 2020 · 51 min
Ninebarrow at Nine Barrow Down
The multi award winning Dorset duo Ninebarrow take Matthew Bannister for a walk in the glorious countryside of the Isle of Purbeck. Their exquisite harmonies ring out across the Bronze Age burial mounds at Nine Barrow Down (which gave the band its na...
Sep 17, 2020 · 56 min
Johnny Flynn on the Hackney Marshes
In our first post lockdown episode, actor and musician Johnny Flynn takes Matthew Bannister for a walk on the Hackney Marshes, a huge expanse of public land which has no fewer than 88 football pitches alongside a nature reserve which has grown up in ...
Aug 31, 2020 · 2 hr 7 min
Bonus Episode: Folk on Foot Festival 3: TOGETHER AGAIN: Highlights
Another extraordinary Bank Holiday Monday virtual Festival from Folk on Foot, this time re-uniting musicians who couldn’t play together during the lockdown. The Breath; Eliza Carthy and David Delarre; Johnny Flynn and his band; Julie Fowlis, Éamon Do...
Aug 6, 2020 · 57 min
Chris Wood in Faversham
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 B...
Jul 23, 2020 · 53 min
Kitty Macfarlane on the Somerset Levels
Kitty Macfarlane is known for her pure voice, poetic song writing and passion for the natural world. On this unexpectedly sunny January walk, she and Matthew Bannister climb the historic Burrow Mump Hill. Here she sings a song inspired by the view, “...
Jul 9, 2020 · 53 min
Frank Turner on the Holloway Road
Frank Turner is a man of contrasts: the old Etonian who became a punk; the heavy metal fan who became a folk-influenced singer songwriter. On this walk through his old haunts on the Holloway Road in North London he reveals the inspiration for his cha...
May 25, 2020 · 1 hr 59 min
Bonus Episode: Front Room Festival 2 Highlights
On Monday 25th May – Spring Bank Holiday in the UK – we staged the Folk on Foot Front Room Festival 2 with an astonishing line up of artists. The show lasted for eight hours – but we have distilled it down to two hours of highlights, featuring: Cara ...
May 7, 2020 · 30 min
Bonus Episode: Jarlath Henderson at the Isle of Skye Festival of Small Halls
Jarlath Henderson has been described as the “Jimi Hendrix of the uilleann pipes”. He is also a fine singer and accomplished player of the whistle. At the age of 17 he became the youngest ever winner of the Radio 2 Young Folk award. He comes from Nor...
Apr 30, 2020 · 31 min
Bonus Episode: Su-a Lee at the Isle of Skye Festival of Small Halls
Su-a Lee is a classically trained cellist who loves breaking down musical barriers. With the group Mr McFall’s Chamber she’s played contemporary classical music in night clubs and she regularly collaborates with Scotland’s leading folk players. She ...