Americans can enjoy some fine acoustic music from across the U.K. via the Internet, using the BBC Radio Player.  Most of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s traditional and contemporary folk, Celtic and country music programs are streamed online and archived for seven days following their initial broadcast.  They can be accessed by keying in www. bbc.co.uk/music/folkcountry/ on your web browser. 

An hour of highlights from the Cambridge Folk Festival that took place in late July, aired on the Mike Harding Show on Wednesday, August 1, can currently be heard on the BBC Radio 2 website at www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/harding/.   You will hear performances by Nanci Griffith, Kate Rusby and Martin Simpson, among others.  There’s also a link to a Cambridge Folk Festival mini-site, where you can view photos and videos of them and other artists – including Joan Baez, Bruce Cockburn, Steve Earle, Fiddler’s Bid, Sharon Shannon, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder and The Waterboys: www.bbc/co.uk/radio2/cambridgefolkfestival/2007/.  Rusby is Harding’s featured guest on his August 15 broadcast, while Fairport Convention is a focus of his August 8 program.

Mary Black, one of Ireland’s best loved singers, is the focus of a two-hour “Folk Club” special on BBC Radio Ulster.  Featuring both conversation and musical highlights from a concert she gave in Calduff, County Donegal, the program hosted by Colum Sands of The Sands Family (fine Irish singers all) initially aired on Saturday, August 4.   Upcoming editions of “Folk Club” will feature recorded performances from the 21st Fiddlers Green Festival in Rostrevor – singer Cara Dillon and her band (August 11), Frankie Gavin and Hibernian Rhapsody (August 18) and Belfast singer-songwriter Brian Kennedy (August 25). 

On his show, Sands customarily shares a blend of traditional and contemporary folk music and son with his listeners, interspersing news of new releases and upcoming gigs in Northern Ireland with album tracks and excerpts from concert performances, as well as occasional short interviews with and performances by in-studio guests.

Other Celtic music radio programs of note include “Celtic Heartbeat,” a two and one-half hour show hosted by Frank Hennessey that airs Saturday evenings on BBC Radio Wales and features traditional and contemporary folk and acoustic music; “Reel Blend”, hosted by Robbie Shepherd Sundays on BBC Radio Scotland, and “Celtic Fringe,” James McKeefry’s two-hour program that airs Wednesdays on BBC Radio Leicester. 

Singer-songwriter Johnny Coppin hosts “Folk Roots,” a Sunday afternoon program on BBC Radio Gloucestershire that features acoustic, Celtic and traditional music.  Genevieve Tudor’s “Sunday Folk” on BBC Radio Shropshire features two hours of traditional music from the UK and around the world.  Mick Peat and Lester Simpson host “Folkwaves,” a two-hour broadcast that airs Monday evenings on BBC Radio Derby.

Providing an American perspective for Scottish radio listeners and others is singer-songwriter Dean Friedman (“Ariel”), who hosts “Real American Folk” Thursday evenings on BBC Radio Scotland from a studio in Peekskill, New York. 

And this Thursday, August 9, at 2 p.m. ET, “Bob Harris Country” on BBC Radio 2 airs an interview that Harris recorded with Americana artist Lisa O’Kane during her recent tour of England. Live, in-studio performances and a recorded track from her new release, It Don’t Hurt, also are featured.  The show will be archived for a week at www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/bobharris country.