On the radio next week, from Shrewsbury Folk Festival:

DARWIN SEASON
Darwin Songs
Friday 27 March
11.00-11.30am BBC RADIO 4
www.bbc.co.uk/darwin Press pack In a unique and challenging project, eight contemporary singer-songwriters are holed up for a week in a remote 16th-century farmhouse to write new songs about the life and work of Charles Darwin.

The selected musicians have 15 BBC Folk Awards between them. They are Chris Wood; Scottish Borders singer Karine Powart; veteran performer Jez Lowe; Emily Smith; international touring American artists Krista Detor and Mark Erelii; Stu Hanson of the folk duo Megson; and Rachael McShane of folk/rock band Bellowhead.

The programme features their daily creative life in the farmhouse, their expeditions into the hinterland that young Darwin knew and the première performance of their songs at Shrewsbury's new Theatre Severn – close to Darwin's birthplace.

Producer/Chris Eldon Lee