Winter Warmers: Festive Folk Mixes and Playlists

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Below are a number of our own Winter themed Mixes and Playlists alongside some guest mixes we’ve featured over the years from Michael Tanner, Stephen Cracknell (The Memory Band), Salad Sound System and Nigel Spencer of Folk Police Recordings.

On Spotify and Apple Music

Traditional Folk Christmas

An Indie Folk Christmas

Mixes

This year’s latest offering…

Folk Show – Episode 128 (a Festive Winter Mix)

Listen via Mixcloud

Music Played

1. Olivia Chaney – Waxwing
2. Steve Tilston – Roving on a Winter’s Night
3. Anne Briggs – Fire And Wine
4. Bert Jansch – The January Man
5. Dick Gaughan – The Snows They Melt The Soonest
6. Lady Maisery and Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith – Winter Berries
7. Lady Maisery and Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith – The Old Churchyard
8. Coope, Boyes & Simpson – The Meadowhall Carol
9. Martha Tilston – Winter Flowers
10. Jean Ritchie – Wintergrace
11. Blind Boy Grunt/Richard Fariña/Eric Von Schmidt – Xmas Island
12. Nadia Cattouse – Red & Green Christmas
13. Jethro Tull – First Snow in Brooklyn
14. Johnny Cunningham, Susan McKeown & Aidan Brennan – A Christmas Childhood
15. Johnny Cunningham, Susan McKeown & Aidan Brennan – My Singing Bird
16. John Kirkpatrick – Wassail
17. Martin Carthy – Hunting The Cutty Wren (w/ June Tabor)
18. Richard Thompson – The Snow Goose
19. Chris Wood – Turtle Soup
20. Ewan McCall and Peggy Seeger – Moving on Song
21. Lal Waterson – Christmas Is Now Drawing Near at Hand
22. Bernard Wrigley – The Wassail Song
23. David Strawbridge & Tim Laycock – The Humstrum

Folk Show: Episode 89 (A Winter Mix)

A winter-themed Folk Show featuring Dick Gaughan, Stephanie Hladowski, Ian Campbell Folk Group, Symondsbury Mummer, Alasdair Roberts, Archie Fisher, Vashti Bunyan, Pumajaw, Sproatly Smith, Martin Carthy, The Watersons, Maggie Boyle and more.

Music Played

1. Dick Gaughan – Battlin’ Roarin’ Willie ; The Friar’s Britches
2. Stephanie Hladowski – Willy O’Winsbury
3. Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick – Prince Heathen
4. Ian Campbell Folk Group – Cutty Wren
5. A Hawk And A Hacksaw – Mana Thelo Enan Andra
6. John Kirkpatrick – Wassail
7. Richard Thompson – Poor Ditching Boy
8. Symondsbury Mummer – Excerpt
9. Martin Carthy – The January Man
10. Alasdair Roberts, Neil McDermott & Tartine de clous – Year Waxing, Year Waning
11. The Young Tradition – Lyke Wake Dirge (Live)
12. Stephanie Hladowski/C. Joynes – The Dark-Eyed Sailor
13. Sam Amidon – Rain And Snow
14. Alasdair Roberts – Sheath And Knife
15. Ian Manuel – Lowlands Of Holland
16. Vashti Bunyan – Winter Is Blue
17. Archie Fisher – Blackbirds And Thrushes
18. Dick Gaughan – The Fair Flower of Northumberland
19. Pumajaw – Mother & The Two Trees (Featuring Alasdair Roberts)
20. Sproatly Smith – Wassail
21. Bob & Ron Copper – Shepherds Arise
22. Lady Maisery and Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith – Night Came Early
23. Maggie Boyle – Wexford Carol
24. The Watersons – Apple Tree Wassail

Guest Mixes

A Winter Solstice Mix by Michael Tanner

For the Winter Solstice, Michael Tanner (Plinth, United Bible Studies, The A. Lords) put this mix together.

This is another collection of hymns, carols, folk standards and field-recordings from the past 800 years…why do so few artists manage to evoke winter particularly well? In my opinion, these are the select few that stand up to scrutiny. Whether it’s the pointed, bird-like quality of Jean Ritchie’s bare-branch voice or the hollow, reverent filigree of Dolly Collins portative organ, something about their use of minimalism perfectly captures the stark landscape, stripped of colour and commotion. A place which, when fortified and protected, is not an unpleasant place to be.

Listen on Mixcloud

Music Played

1. Maurice Jarre – Carpe Diem
2. Shirley Collins – I Sing Of A Maid That Is Makeless
3. Jean Ritchie – Wintergrace/Mourning Tears
4. Dick Gaughan – The Snow They Melt The Soonest
5. John Fleagle – Blow Northerne Wynd
6. Anonymous 4 – Videntes Stellam (The Star)
7. John Renbourn – The Moon Shines Bright
8. The Martin Best Ensemble – Miri It Is
9. Sourdeline – La Reine Blanche (The White Queen)
10. Luciano Berio – I Wonder As I Wander
11. Martin Carthy – Cold Haily Windy Night
12. Mike Waterson – The Black And Bitter Night

Midwinter Mix by Stephen Cracknell (The Memory Band)

From Stephen Cracknell, the man behind The Memory Band.

Listen on Mixcloud

Music Played

1. Derek & Dorothy Elliott – Wassail Song
2. Fotheringay – Nothing More
3. Mary Rhoads – Golden Slippers
4. Wizz Jones – Dazzliung Stranger
5. Steeleye Span – Lowlands Of Holland
6. Flora Macneil – Beninn a’ Chethaich
7. Anne Briggs – Living By The Water
8. Ashley Hutchings – Sir Roger de Coverley
9. Pentangle – Cruel Sister
10. Tim Hart & Maddy Prior – Maid That’s Deep In Love
11. The Watersons – Here We Come A Wassailing
12. Bridget St. John – Goodbaby Goodbye

Folk Police Case Report No 1 by Folk Police Recordings (Nigel Spencer)

This is a record label that I greatly miss…

Manchester’s Folk Police Recordings put together this case report featuring some of the songs that have inspired the label’s approach. The mix includes a smattering of classic 70s folk-rock alongside more recent music steeped in the folk-rock spirit. This is followed by a short detour through some of the more pastoral byways of the folk revival and the psychedelic folk fringes and concludes with a handful of seasonal songs for the long winter nights. 

Listen on Mixcloud

Music Played

1. Shelagh McDonald – The Dowie Dens of Yarrow (Stargazer, 1971)
2. Mick Softley – Ship (Sunrise, 1970)
3. Starless & Bible Black – Up with the Orcadian Tide (7” single, 2007)
4. Malicorne- Quand J’Etais Chez Mon Père (Almanach, 1976)
5. Kiila – Kehotuslaulu (Tuota Tuota, 2009)
6. The Woods Band – As I Roved Out (The Woods Band, 1971)
7. Wolf People – The Banks of Sweet Dundee Part 1(Steeple, 2011)
8. The Janet and Johns – I was a Young Man (7” single, 1980)
9. The Straw Bear Band – Lyke Wake Dirge (The Inner Octave, 2011)
10. The Owl Service – Time is Ripe (Echoes from the Mountain, 2011)
11. In Gowan Ring – Hazel Steps (Hazel Steps Through a Weathered Home, 2002)
12. Silly Wizard – Carlisle Wall (Silly Wizard, 1976)
13. COB – Eleven Willows (Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart, 1972)
14. John Goodluck – The Lover’s Ghost (The Suffolk Miracle, 1974)
15. Bread Love and Dreams – Brother John (Amaryllis, 1971)
16. Steve Ashley – Candlemas Carol (Stroll On, 1974)
17. Crazy Man Michael – Winter Song (The Green Light, 2008)
18. Carolanne Pegg – Winter People (Carolann, 1973)
19. PG Six – Come In/The Winter it is Past (The Well of Memory, 2004)

Winter Salad ii by Salad Sound System

…featuring Ivor Cutler, Michael Chapman, John Martyn, 5 Hand Reel, The Memory Band, Edward II and lots more.

A wintry pastiche exploring the dubbier side folky work, plus voices from the past, seventies folk in minor and a sense of the disquiet that this season can bring about: that unsettling, imperceptible resonance across the land.

Dub-like memorial fragmentation of the above as it swirls and bounces within your bonce on a long walk. Repeat ad libitum.

Listen on Mixcloud

Music Played

1. Alan Stivell – Ys (Part 1)
2. Ivor Cutler – Path
3. William Adamson – Foggy Dew / Version
4. Russ Barnes – Lydlinch Bells
5. Michael Chapman & The Woodpiles – Heat Index
6. Motion Pictures – Unforseen Prophecy
7. Motion Pictures – 4+20 Blackbirds
8. Bill Callahan – Thank Dub
9. John Martyn – Smiling Stranger (Alternate Take #2)
10. The Coral – Nine Times the Colour Red
11. 5 Hand Reel – Death of Argyll
12. Edward II – Staffordshire Hornpipe
13. Kevin Morby – Harlem River
14. Steve Gunn – Atmosphere
15. Paul & Linda McCartney – Hey Diddle (Dixon van Winkle mix)
16. This Is The Kit – Sometimes the Sea
17. The Memory Band – Brambles
18. Alan Stivell – Ys (Part 2)
19. Charlie Andrews – The Geate A-Vallen To
20. Russ Barnes – Lydlinch Bells