The Mike Harding Show - 26/05/2010

Mike Harding previews a fantastic summer of folk with a guide to some of the best festivals and tracks from the acclaimed artists appearing at them. Three-time winners of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Group, Lau, take their genre-defying instrumentals to Orkney Folk Festival at the end of May. Come July, they can also be found on the bill at Eastleigh Music Festival alongside Irish singer Cara Dillon, whose latest album Hill of Thieves netted the 2010 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Album Of The Year. Northumbrian family affair The Unthanks have continued to win plaudits for their tense arrangements of traditional songs throughout 2010. Their hectic summer festival diary includes Salisbury's Larmer Tree Festival in July. The Unthanks finish the summer at St. Ives' September Festival, where Simon Emmerson's fusion project The Imagined Village (featuring, amongst others, Eliza Carthy) will be a major draw. The Imagined Village will also be hosted by Cambridge Folk Festival when it returns to Cherry Hinton Hall at the end of July. The extensive Cambridge bill is headlined by U.S. singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson and includes the seemingly unlikely collaboration between County Clare accordion virtuoso Sharon Shannon and sassy Dublin rockabilly singer Imelda May. Radio 2 will be bringing you highlights from the event.