We’re back on the glorious Shetland Isles for this episode and who better to show us around than the renowned local fiddle player Maurice Henderson (of Fiddlers Bid) and his friend the luthier and guitarist from Fair Isle Ewen Thomson? After Ewen demonstrates how to make a great violin, they take...

“He said you could pluck songs out of the air - pluck them out of the air - and sing them bonny”. The great Northumbrian pipe player Kathryn Tickell describes the River Rede near her home as the backdrop and soundscape to her life. On its bank, she is joined by her Dad Mike to perform music, song...

The acclaimed singer and songwriter Declan O’Rourke takes us for a scenic walk near his home in the beautiful fishing village of Kinvara on the west coast of Ireland, singing songs inspired by the area as he goes. Declan’s grandfather, an artist, was born and brought up in Kinvara. On our walk, D...

In the shadow of the disused ironstone kilns of the Rosedale Valley in North Yorkshire, Ciderhouse Rebellion - fiddle player Adam Summerhayes and accordionist Murray Grainger - conjure up a soundscape of rare beauty - improvised on the spot. Then they add evocative poetry from Adam’s daughter Jes...

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 ...

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, si...

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 b...

The singer, songwriter and artist Jenny Sturgeon has made her home on Shetland, a group of wild and wonderful islands in the North Atlantic. We climb up to the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse where Jenny – who has a PhD in seabird ecology – points out fulmars, kittywakes and a puffin on the vertiginous ...

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 and was the inaugural artistic director of the National Folk Youth Ensemble. We start this episode with...

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 spent his early childhood. There was always music in the house, much of it Irish and of...

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. As the sounds of early spring surr...

Mercury music prize nominee Sam Lee is a folk singer, a countryman and an impresario. Through his Nest Collective he promotes scores of different folk gigs and events every year. In this episode of Folk on Foot he invites Matthew to join him in a Sussex wood in the middle of the night as he leads...

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. 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 bea...

Nearly eight years after they first appeared on Folk on Foot, that irrepressible trio The Young’Uns are back - with Sean Cooney, David Eagle and Michael Hughes performing songs new and old as we climb the Tesside landmark Roseberry Topping. The conversation ranges from learning to laughs - especi...

Su-a Lee is a classically trained cellist and a member of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, but she 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, ...

Stick in the Wheel’s music has been described as “precision folk with anger, lust and blood.” The band’s founders Nicola Kearey and Ian Carter take Matthew Bannister for a walk through their East London stomping grounds, starting in a Victorian weaver’s house in Spitalfields, taking in Walthamsto...

Steve Knightley is one half of the acclaimed folk duo Show of Hands. He and his musical partner Phil Beer are proud to come from Devon - once beating Sir Francis Drake in a public vote to name the greatest ever Devonians. Steve has been described as “a gravel voiced spokesman for the rural poor” ...

The beautiful Lost Words book by artist Jackie Morris and writer Robert Macfarlane has become a cultural phenomenon, raising awareness of the importance of nature words in our lives. It has also spawned the Spell Songs project featuring some of our top folk artists. In this special edition of Fol...

In search of the festive spirit of Christmas – and bearing gifts - we travel to the Peak District and Sheffield to hear the area’s unique local carols. Along the way we collect music from Jon Boden, Bella Hardy, The Melrose Quartet and the singers of the villages of Dungworth and Hathersage. We ...

Seth Lakeman is the Mercury Music Prize nominated singer, fiddle player and guitarist who will forever be associated with Dartmoor. He grew up in the village of Buckland Monachorum with his two brothers Sean and Sam who are also key players on the folk scene. In this episode Seth takes Matthew to...