I switched to BBC4 on Friday night, and what I think is a repeat series of Transatlantic Sessions had just started at 7.30pm... only 30 minutes and only six programmes, but what a joy to watch! Tim O'Brien was on, and Mary Chapin Carpenter (stunning country songwriter who loves and respects the folk tradition from this side of the Atlantic); Cara Dillon, with her husband Sam Lakeman; the incredible bass of Danny Thompson, and the angelic Gaelic singing of Julie Fowlis and Karen Mattheson; plus the masterful playing of Michael McGoldrick, Donal Lunny, Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas as music directors, John McCusker and the beautiful tunes of Phil Cunningham...

All this, packed into one brief half-hour! BBC-4 deserves to be congratulated; we don't see much in the way of folk/roots, but what we do see (i.e. Nic Jones, June Tabor) has been pretty fine stuff. Perhaps we should petition the BBC and ITV to show more quality music?