Folk Festival

As computer technology rockets us into the future along an ever-steepening (and sometimes scary) parabola of human advancement, there are still pockets of our lives we reserve for traditional, simple pleasures . . . and folk music is most definitely one of them. This virtual festival gathers together great folk material new and old for a celebration of narrative and acoustic talent: Fairport Convention starts proceedings with a rock-styled telling of the legend of "Tam Lin".

Folksters have been invited from far and wide to appear among our Next Steps.

Here, our cup brimmeth over with international folk flavour, as Her Radical Highness Peggy Seeger — half-sister to American folk hero Pete Seeger and wife of Lancastrian legend Ewan MacColl — performs "Lowlands of Holland" alongside Australian folk-rockers, the Waifs ("Sad Sailor Song"), who so impressed Bob Dylan in their homeland that he asked them to open for him during his 2003 tour. Adding a dash of alt country to the mix is Albuquerque's the Handsome Family.

Folk's many colours illuminate our Deep Cuts.

Hoover the Dog — a trio from the Welsh Borders — carries more than a hint of wit and invention in its name, and "Dead Dogs" finds the outfit in technically stunning, understated form. Acoustic bluesman Eric Bibb ("The Promised Land") continues a bloodline sourced to the New York folk underground of the '60s, where dad Leon Bibb made a name for himself. Bibb the younger grew up around folkies and, aged 11, was advised by Bob Dylan to "Keep it simple, forget all that fancy stuff".

If you lack a stage, a field, and a throng of gentle people dressed in hemp-based clothing, worry not — you can still hold your very own folk festival right now, by downloading these organic, story-weaving Essentials. The big names of the English folk movement — which has thrived during the '00s — appear at the top of the bill (Fairport Convention, Show of Hands), supported by 21st-century newcomers, like Bellowhead ("Death and the Lady"), who debuted at the Oxford Folk Festival in 2004, and Seth Lakeman, whose first solo album was released in '02. You'll also find Karine Polwart, Kate Rusby, and Eliza Carthy here, under the matriarchal wings of June Tabor and Peggy Seeger. So sing along, and make yourself a part of folk's great global family.