Folk's finest artists take listeners to places that have inspired their music in new 'Folk on foot' podcast with BBC's Matthew Bannister

SOME OF FOLK’S FINEST ARTISTS TAKE LISTENERS TO PLACES THAT HAVE INSPIRED THEIR MUSIC IN NEW 'FOLK ON FOOT’ PODCAST - WITH BBC’S MATTHEW BANNISTER

Some of the UK’s finest folk artists will take listeners to the heartland of the places that have inspired their music in an engaging new podcast starting in August.

Folk on Foot will let listeners eavesdrop as Matthew Bannister, one of the country’s leading broadcasters, walks alongside some of the genre’s foremost singer songwriters and musicians in scenic and intriguing locations around the country, from Scotland to the South Downs, Devon to Derry. They will be leaving their footprints on a wide variety of landscapes – from sandy beaches to downland ridge paths, windswept moors to the North Sea coast.

Bannister’s prolific career on the airwaves and in broadcast management includes his time as Controller of Radio 1 in the 1990s and today he presents Radio 4’s obituary programme Last Word and Outlook on the World Service. But few would have known that when wearing his Radio 1 hat, he harboured a lifelong passion for folk music and had appeared regularly as a teenage fiddle player in the folk clubs around Sheffield, where he went to school.

A keen walker, with a home in West Sussex, he is often to be found on the South Downs Way. Bannister says: “It’s wonderful to be able to bring together three of my lifelong passions in one project. I love folk music, walking and telling stories in sound – and that’s what Folk on Foot will do.”

Launching on August 3 and produced by Wire Free Productions, the series will have signature music composed and performed by ‘Scotland’s foremost fiddle player’, the talented folk musician and record producer John McCusker.

Season 1 of the podcast will feature English, Scottish and Irish performers – reading like a ‘Who’s Who of British folk’. An added element will see the participating artists performing songs on location exclusively for Folk on Foot.

Kicking off the series the irrepressible and hugely popular Teessiders The Young’uns (winners of Best Album at the 2018 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards with Strangers) will take Matthew on a tour of County Durham’s Hartlepool Headland.

Five more weekly podcasts follow on from the opening programme through August and early September in this first series – with Bannister talking to Show of Hands frontman and BBC award-winning songwriter Steve Knightley (Exe Trail), celebrated fiddle singer Eliza Carthy, MBE (Robin Hood’s Bay), traditional music exponent Sam Lee (South Downs), Scottish singer songwriter Karine Polwart (2018 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards ‘Folk Singer of the Year) on Fala Moor, Midlothian and renowned Northern Ireland songstress Cara Dillon, back in her native County Derry.