Off The Beaten Tracks 11 August 2025

Having seen Benji Kirkpatrick at the Warwick Folk Festival last month playing a selection of Jimi Hendrix covers I thought I'd play a couple of songs from his album Hendrix Songs that he released 10 years ago. There are also numbers by Banter and Granny's Attic who also played at the festival.

Listen to the show on Mixcloud or from Monday at 1pm or 8pm on Ginger Feather FM.

Benji Kirkpatrick - Red House 

Banter - Forsaken Mermaid 

Granny's Attic - Bobbing Joe / Lumps Of Pudding 

Dick Gaughan - Erin Go Bragh (live) 

Chris & Kellie While - Persuasion 

Ben Nicholls (feat Kris Drever) - The Greenland Whale Fisheries 

Faustus - Ballina Whalers 

Eddi Reader - Wings on my Heels 

Linda Thompson (feat Kami Thompson) - The Solitary Traveller 

Jamie Smith's Mabon - The Gordano Ranter 

Jim Causley & Miranda Sykes - Widecombe Fair 

Merry Hell - The Rising of the Bold 

Benji Kirkpatrick - Stone Free 

Warwick Folk Festival mix

I'm going to the Warwick Folk Festival at the end of next week so have put together a mix of some of those who will be playing there from Thursday the 24th to Sunday the 27th. 

Listen to the mix on Mixcloud or from Monday on Ginger Feather FM at 1pm or 8pm. 

Richard Thompson - Feel So Good
Kate Rusby - Shake It Off
Martin Simpson - Born Human
Fara - Broom Power
Will Pound & Jenn Butterworth - The Workout Suite
Janice Burns & Jon Doran - Up and Awa'
Banter - Below Below
Andy Cutting - Granton Fish Bowl
Granny's Attic - The Mermaid
Le Vent Du Nord - Pauvre Enfant 
Chris Wood - Turtle Soup
Martin Simpson - New Kitchen Blues
Kate Rusby - The Village Green Preservation Society
Richard Thompson - 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Fara - Speir Thoo the Wast Wind

https://warwickfolkfestival.co.uk/ 

Off The Beaten Tracks 14 July 2025

It's a mostly North American playlist this week with one band from the UK, namely Jaywalkers. There are two songs from Arcadia the new album by Alison Krauss & Union Station and a Bob Dylan cover by Indigo Girls from their live album 1200 Curfews which was released back in 1995.

Listen to the show on Mixcloud or on Ginger Feather FM at 1pm or 8pm from Monday.

Asleep at the Wheel - Half A Hundred Years
Birds of Chicago - Cannonball
Alison Krauss & Union Station - North Side Gal
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway feat Old Crow Medicine Show - Big Backyard
Dolly Parton - Seven Bridges Road
Jaywalkers - Ain't Nobody's Business
Hayseed Dixie - Dude Looks Like A Lady
Down Hill Strugglers - Abandoned Orchards That Grow
Indigo Girls - Tangled Up In Blue (live)
Rita Hosking - I See Storms
The Tillers - Weary Soul
Cam Penner - Gypsy Women
Alison Krauss & Union Station - One Ray of Shine
Yasmin Williams - Through The Woods 

OTBT mix 7 July 2025

Next week's Off The Beaten Tracks mix is now available to listen to on Mixcloud and on Ginger Feather FM at 1pm or 8pm from Monday.

Oysterband - Angels of the River 

Kate Rusby - Let Your Light Shine 

Eilidh Shaw & Ross Martin - Swimmy Tunes 

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Looking Forward 

Joni Mitchell - I Don't Know Where I Stand 

Sarah McQuaid - Walking Into White (Live in Rapid City) 

Fotheringay - John The Gun (Live - BBC Sounds Of The 70's)  

Kami Thompson - Never Again 

Steeleye Span - Thornaby Woods 

Seth Lakeman - Poor Man's Heaven (live) 

Eilidh Shaw & Ross Martin - Stoned Again 

Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown 

Steve Earle - Nebraska (live) 

The Jayhawks - Nevada, California 

Melissa Greener - Bullets to Bite 

Best New Releases 2025 (so far)

As we are at the mid-way point in the year I thought I'd look through my list of new releases which I've either been sent or have bought on Bandcamp or direct from the artist. Of these ten I have only seen one in concert this year, namely Flook, though I did see Miranda Sykes recently who is a member of Daphne's Flight and I watched a live stream of one of their gigs on Folkscape.

So in alphabetical order here is my Top Ten Jan-Jun 2025

Daphne's Flight - Favourable Light
Piers Faccini & Ballaké Sissoko - Our Calling
Flook - Sanju
I’m With Her - Wild and Clear and Blue
Jaywalkers - Move On
Iona Lane - Swilkie*
Merry Hell - Rising of the Bold
Reg Meuross - Fire & Dust : A Woody Guthrie Story
Eilidh Shaw and Ross Martin - Stay Here All Night
Natalie Wildgoose - Come Into The Garden 

*I contributed to Iona's Kickstarter and along with the cd I have received a very nice songbook which includes lovely illustrations and photos connected to the Western Isles and Orkney which provided her with inspiration to write the songs on the album.

Tune in to Off The Beaten Tracks every day at 1pm or 8pm
On Ginger Feather FM which broadcasts 24/7 online

Off The Beaten Tracks 30 June 2025

This show features Miranda Sykes on three songs - two by SykesMartin and one by Daphne's Flight. Also two tracks by musicians who apparently decided not to continue trying to make a living playing music in the aftermath of the Covid lockdown of 2020, namely Ewan McLennan and Ciaran Algar. If anyone knows what they're up to now, do let us know in the comments below.

Listen to the show now on Mixcloud or from Monday on Ginger Feather FM.

Cara Dillon - Black is the Colour 

SykesMartin - Blow out the Candle 

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Bats in the Attic 

Saso - Little Red Corvette 

Richard Thompson - Easy There, Steady Now 

Iona Lane - Boat Song 

Daphne's Flight - Home Before You Know It

SykesMartin - Standing Stones 

Fairport Convention - Matty Groves 

Reg Meuross - Woody Guthrie's Chains 

Ewan McLennan - Wild Mountain Thyme 

Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar - We Are Leaving 

Alice Allen & Patsy Reid - The Banks of Spey/Cullen House/The Fiddich-side Lasses

Blues mix for Max Haymes

I first met Max when I got involved with the community radio station Diversity FM. Max did his show on a Monday afternoon and occasionally I would cover for a guy called Reza whose show preceded Max's. I would normally end my hour with a blues track knowing that Max would be in the other studio waiting to take to the airwaves and I would listen to see what comment he would make. But while Max's expertise and love of the blues was the music of the early 20th century, I was more into guitarists who I had discovered in the 1980s like Robert Cray and those who to me were the older generation like BB King and Buddy Guy.

This mix features old blues which hopefully Max would have approved of from the likes of Big Bill Broonzy and Oscar Woods up to the new generation of blues musicians like Jackie Venson and Errol Brown. Listen on Mixcloud to my Blues Mix for Max.

Thanks Max, for giving me a window into a world of early blues which I may not have got round to checking out. Rest in Peace.

John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom
Big Bill Broonzy - Mindin' My Own Business
Sonny Boy Williamson - Sugar Mama
Jackie Venson - Down By The Riverside / Up Above My Head
Little Whitt & Big Bo - I Got A Woman
Odetta - Midnight Special
Little Willie John - Fever
Eric Bibb - Six O'Clock Blues 
Grainne Duffy - Dirt Woman Blues
Errol Linton - Love Gone Cold
Blues N' Trouble - Honey Pot
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Change The Lock On My Door
Keb' Mo' - Kindhearted Woman Blues
Sunjay - Train Home
Blind Boys of Alabama - Just Wanna See His Face
Ted Hawkins - Peace & Happiness
Oscar Woods - Lone Wolf Blues
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - I Love You Baby