Folk on Foot

A Bronze Age site on Dartmoor, six musical instruments, a feather, harmonica-enhanced beatboxing, a stone that is said to increase fertility, a fast flowing river, a baby and a caring grandmother - all ingredients of a wonderful walk with the award-winning duo Edgelarks (Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin). --- Access exclusive films of Edgelarks performing along our walk, along with over 100 other p...

Olivia Chaney wrote many of the songs for her critically acclaimed second solo album whilst living alone without electricity or mains water at her family’s remote and crumbling farmhouse on Hawnby Moor in North Yorkshire. On a hot summer’s day, she takes Matthew Bannister back across the Moor, singing and playing along the way, circled by curlews and lapwings, to share the atmospheric isolation th...

Question: What do you get when you go walking with the nature writer Robert Macfarlane and the actor and musician Johnny Flynn on a scorching hot summer's day in Wandlebury? Answer: A Neolithic track, an Iron Age fort, a Roman road, a holm oak, cow pats, a mighty avenue of sun-dappled beech, a buzzard, a grasshopper orchestra, a dragonfly, the stories of a mysterious white horse and a dread augury...

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. On our atmospheric walk, with seabirds calling and waves crashing, Jenny reflects on finding inspiration for her music in nature as she performs song...

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 plays the tune of the same name.  Along the way he tells stories of his hero Dave Swarbrick, his unfinished First World War violin and learning to play t...

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. Jim rejected folk music at first, but found his way back to it as a teenager. Now he’s steeped in the tradition, citing the guitar playing of Bert Jans...

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 and recharge. Germa is a rising star on the folk scene with a beguiling and original style. --- Access five exclusive films of Germa performing along o...

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 sounds of deep sea creatures, he demonstrates his skill as a beat boxer, Mongolian overtone chanter and bones player; climbs halfway up a tree to sing in...

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 Morning; O’Hooley and Tidow: Blanket; Chris Wood: The Sweetness Game; Nancy Kerr and James Fagan: Seven Notes; Bella Hardy: Redemption; Sam Lee: Sweet...

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 My Wife; Lady Nade: Good Looking/Hank Williams; Kris Drever: Westlin’ Winds; O’Hooley and Tidow: Lullabies for Flynn; Chris Wood: A Cornish Young Man;...

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 Lakeman: Beeswing/Richard Thompson; Lady Nade: I Remember Everything/John Prine; Kris Drever: Michelle/The Beatles;  O’Hooley and Tidow: Teardrop/Massive A...

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 makes all their instruments. Rowan and Anna Rheingans grew up surrounded by music – and are now one of the most innovative and talented duos on the fo...

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 scene of the 1960s.  On the steps of his old school in Highgate Richard sings  “Man With Money” by the Everly Brothers. In Highgate Woods he sings his...

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” as the theme tune of the hit BBC TV drama based on the life of Anne Lister. But the lockdown put paid to all the touring they’d planned.  So they stay...

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 name) as they savour the spectacular view of Poole Harbour, Swanage and the Isle of Wight. They end up in St James’s Church in the village of Kingston w...

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 disused gravel pits. As well as singing his distinctive, haunting songs, Johnny relates his near miss with a bear on the Camino to Santiago, reflects...

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 Doorley and Duncan Chisholm; Karine Polwart, Steven Polwart and Inge Thomson; Kris Drever, John McCusker and Phil Cunningham; Lady Nade, Kit Hawes and A...

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...

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, “Man Friendship”.   As they walk along the nearby river, Kitty stops to sing her song about migration: “Glass Eel”. Then it’s off to her favourite bird...

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 change in musical direction, calling in at the venue Nambucca where ""the scales fell from my eyes"" and he discovered the power of ""three chords and th...

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 Dillon and Sam Lakeman, Chris Wood, Duncan Chisholm, Eliza Carthy, Frank Turner and Jess Guise, Gwilym Bowen Rhys, John Smith, Johnny Flynn, Kate Rusb...

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 Northern Ireland but has now made his home in Scotland where he combines his musical career with working as a doctor in emergency medicine. Hosted on Aca...

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 is also a keen walker and bagger of Munros. Sitting on a rock by the river at Sligachan, she tells Matthew Bannister the poignant story of climbing Be...

The Edinburgh-born harpist, fiddle player and singer Rachel Newton sings in both English and Gaelic and is a member of The Shee, The Furrow Collective and the Lost Words Spell Songs. We walked with her on the Isle of Skye in November 2019 where she was taking part in the wonderful Festival of Small Halls, in which top Scottish musicians come together to tour the community halls of the island. Host...

On Easter Bank Holiday Monday, April 13th 2020, we organised the Folk on Foot Front Room Festival - seven and a half hours of wonderful folk music from 15 top artists playing in their front rooms, linked by Matthew Bannister from his. Bella Hardy, Beth Porter and the Bookshop Band, Jon Boden, Julie Fowlis and Éamon Doorley, Karine Polwart, Kerry Andrew/You are Wolf, Kris Drever, Lisa Knapp, Martin...