On behalf of Kate Bramley, RadioBritfolk coordinator:

We're very excited about the programmes coming up this month to mark our 1st birthday celebrations, and must mention they're made possible, in part, by our recent grant from the lottery.

To give you a taster of what is coming up:
July 3rd sees the premiere of Pete Coe's new series 'An Ear to the Ground' that looks at some of the pioneering work done by folk labels in the UK. In his first show he talks with John Howson of Veteran Records and plays some classic tracks. Also the first concert from the Radio Britfolk Live concert recorded last
year features a half hour live set from the amazing Steve Tilston. Steve is a songwriter and guitarist at the height of his game, and gives a magical performance in this programme. There will also be a Morris Special in Tim Moon's regular 'Focus' programme, a look at the female singer-songwriter scene in Janis Haves monthly show 'Its a girl thing', and also we're very pleased to be presenting the first in a two part series on the legendary Show of Hands, playing tracks from their brand new album as well as other solo projects. We've just heard today that the second programme, tabled for later this month will feature rare tracks from Steve Knightley's own archives.

And thats just the first week of programmes! July 10th sees a great programme from Chris Sweeney about John Tams, as well as Ali O'Briens fortnightly round-up of all things folk, and special Smallpipes workshops with Vicki Swan that run for the rest of the month.

From 10th July we'll be featuring a programme a week from the archives, and we start with Ben Sands' excellent 'Ulster Folk' followed by 'A sense of time and place' that looks at the diverse range of music across Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England.