BBC Radio 2 is bringing back 21st Century Folk for a fourth series, with five new songs inspired by listeners whose lives have been shaped by sport.
The award-winning project will return this summer with contributions from Martin Simpson, Katherine Priddy, Eddi Reader and John Douglas, Passenger, and Megson.
Each act has written and composed an original song based on a real listener story, with this year’s theme chosen to coincide with a busy summer of sport including the FIFA World Cup, Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix, the Tour de France, the Commonwealth Games and the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
The songs and stories will be available on BBC Sounds from Monday 29 June, before being featured across Radio 2 during a week of folk programming.
The contributors include Andy from Staffordshire, whose story centres on his adopted uncle Adrian, a boxing fan who died aged 18 while helping a woman change a tyre on Christmas Day in 1974. He’s pictured above with his family.
Hannah from Shropshire shares how cycling and sport helped her as a young carer and during her recovery from a brain injury sustained in a training crash.
Jonathan from Glasgow, the grandson of a Trinidadian runner, tells how running helped him through depression during lockdown, while Victor, who was born in Sierra Leone and later fled to London, speaks about how football and photography helped transform his life after trauma and homelessness.
Jackie from Teesside, who played football as a teenager and later returned to the game after 35 years, is also featured after receiving a national call-up to represent the over-60s Walking Football team.
The series is partly inspired by the BBC Radio Ballads, created by Charles Parker, Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger in the late 1950s, which combined real-life testimony with original songs.
Helen Thomas, Head of BBC Radio 2, said folk music had “always been a very important part” of the station, adding that the latest series focuses on “all things sporting”.
Mark Radcliffe said he “couldn’t be prouder” of 21st Century Folk, describing it as “a wholly noble endeavour”.
The songs will be heard each day on The Jeremy Vine Show, presented that week by Tina Daheley, from Monday 29 June to Friday 3 July.
Radio 2 will also air a 21st Century Folk special with Mark Radcliffe on July 1, before a two-hour programme on Sunday 5 July from 8pm.
