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Almost all music has a folk origin: blues, jazz, rock and even so-called classical. As Big Bill Broonzy famously said - "all songs are folk songs; ain't never heard a horse sing!"
Arguably the first Kiwi to make a living with a mandolin, David spent some of his musical life playing bluegrass, but was performing in the folk boom as early as 1964.
He was playing in Europe and the UK in the 70s, dabbling in folk rock and pop in California in the 80s, and creating a country garden in the 90s and teaching children to read.
These days, kind of retired, he is free to pursue any of the musical paths he loves: song-writing, tuition, and performance with guitar, piano, banjo, mandolin, autoharp, dulcimer, even bass; playing jazz, folk, blues and originals. Or to just kick back and listen to Bach or Grappelli ...
A long-standing performer of NZ folk, Davey also maintains a love affair with US old-time music nurtured since Doc Watson's LPs first made it to these shores. A natural entertainer since his debut on radio aged six, David thinks radio is the perfect performance medium.
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Podcasts
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Merry Christmas
For our Yuletide and New Year's Eve special for 2018, we share some seasonal songs with a difference, and hope that your holidays are peaceful and jolly. Cheers!
Duration: 00:58:02 | Date: 16 December, 2018
Woverview 19
We lend an ear to the lineup for WOMAD next March in the first of our Woverviews for the 2019 event in New Plymouth's Bowl of Brooklands.
Duration: 00:57:03 | Date: 9 December, 2018
Fleurieu Folk Festival
The Folk Music Hour was given a media pass to check out the Fleurieu Folk Festival, South Australia's largest, an annual three-day family friendly folk music festival, held since 2007 in the picturesque township of Willunga, near South Australia’s premier wine region.
Duration: 00:57:14 | Date: 2 December, 2018
Eco Protest
In our fourth programme for Protest November, we play songs appealing for a new relationship with our world and our environment, lest we extinguish the basis of our own survival.
Duration: 00:57:45 | Date: 25 November, 2018
Songs For a Revolution
We listen to the fantastic folk, soul and protest singing that flourished during the Civil Rights struggle that came to a head in the 60s and did so much to raise the world's consciousness about race-based inequality.
Duration: 00:52:36 | Date: 11 November, 2018
Dying For a Song
Protesting in song is an important part of folk music, and we take our right to do so for granted. But what happens when the regime a musician is protesting against comes up with a deadly response.
Duration: 00:56:36 | Date: 11 November, 2018
Don't Sign Up For War
We begin Protest November solemnly observing the centenary of the ceasefire and Armistice. We explore the folk songs which protested against the Great War, indeed all war, and remind ourselves of the women and men who peeled away the veneer of honour and glory to reveal the extent of the tragedy.
Duration: 00:58:23 | Date: 11 November, 2018
Mali Blues
The music of Mali is endlessly fascinating, and a treasure house of the origins of American blues and folk music
Duration: 00:55:53 | Date: 28 October, 2018
Krissy Jackson
Taranaki's premier NZ folk fiddler Krissy Jackson talks us through her super CD 'Have Fiddle Will Travel' in an interview with Davey at our ART studios.
Duration: 00:58:29 | Date: 21 October, 2018
Red Herrings
Waiheke Island musicians Red Herrings with the next best thing to their entertaining live show, their folk and roots album 'Takeaways'.
Duration: 00:56:07 | Date: 14 October, 2018
Maire and Chris
Máire Ni Chathasaigh, the doyenne of Celtic harpers, and Chris Newman, a guitarist's guitarist, with their hot new release FireWire, on the eve of their third tour of Aotearoa.
Duration: 00:57:58 | Date: 7 October, 2018
Chris Thile
Chris Thile is the awesome mandolinist behind Nickel Creek, the Punch Bros and "Live From Here", on American Public Radio.
Duration: 01:00:27 | Date: 30 September, 2018
Blues, Rags And Hollers
Koerner, Ray and Glover were contemporaries of a young Dylan in Minneapolis, and brought black music to white audiences with style and energy.
Duration: 00:57:47 | Date: 23 September, 2018
Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori
We play songs from the trailblazing Ocean & Forest and Toiapiapi albums, which confirm the late Hirini Melbourne NZOM as the mastermind behind the renaissance of interest in the oldest language in Aotearoa, its tikanga, and its taonga puoro.
Duration: 00:58:21 | Date: 16 September, 2018
Banjo Heaven
The five string banjos of Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck
Duration: 00:56:49 | Date: 2 September, 2018
Harp and Kora
The European and African harps in the hands of the virtuosi Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita
Duration: 00:57:32 | Date: 26 August, 2018
Folk Dylan
Davey Calder explores Dylan's early folk songs.
Duration: 00:57:20 | Date: 19 August, 2018
Suzanne Vega
The hit songwriter revisits her catalogue with acoustic, folk style arrangements.
Duration: 00:58:42 | Date: 12 August, 2018
Anne Briggs
The English traditional singer's legacy becomes even more important with the passage of time
Duration: 00:58:39 | Date: 29 July, 2018
Young Tradition
In America, the future of folk music appears safe in the hands of a wealth of young traditionalists.
Duration: 00:55:03 | Date: 22 July, 2018
Equation
The folk group from the Britpop era seeded several musical careers making superb music.
Duration: 00:59:19 | Date: 15 July, 2018
Tom Paxton
The great US balladeer's songs sound as fresh today as they did in the Folk Boom.
Duration: 00:58:30 | Date: 8 July, 2018
Young Country 2
Continuing the special programme of NZ folk songs occasioned by the KiwiPacific release on CD of Song of a Young Country.
Duration: 00:58:51 | Date: 1 July, 2018
Young Country 1
The most comprehensive collection of NZ folk songs ever made has moved from LPs to CD, thanks to KiwiPacific.
Duration: 00:58:15 | Date: 24 June, 2018
Funny Folk Too
A second show of songs to make you grin, or laugh out loud.
Duration: 00:48:38 | Date: 17 June, 2018
Comic Folk
It's not all murder and mayhem in the folk tradition; there's plenty of good humour, too.
Duration: 00:58:24 | Date: 10 June, 2018
Nordan
A German harpist and a Faroe Islands fiddler convey the magic of these ancient isles.
Duration: 00:55:34 | Date: 3 June, 2018
NZ Music Month Waiata Tangata
Davey searches for the folk roots of the brilliant repertoire of Māori music in te reo and in English.
Duration: 00:57:11 | Date: 27 May, 2018
Reverie
The top notch NZ duo perform English folk songs on their debut release.
Duration: 00:50:00 | Date: 20 May, 2018
Young NZ Folk
The Frank Winter Award has brought forward some very talented young folk artists at the Auckland Folk Festival
Duration: 00:53:57 | Date: 13 May, 2018
Acoustic Confusion To Toru
Davey plays the music of some important Kiwi folk artists from the 80s to the present day.
Duration: 00:57:38 | Date: 6 May, 2018
NZ Music Month 2018
In the first of five programmes for NZ Music Month, the Folk Music Hour is amazed at the variety of artists playing and touring.
Duration: 00:58:03 | Date: 29 April, 2018
Judy Collins
Duration: 00:58:31 | Date: 22 April, 2018
Jackson C Frank
Duration: 00:57:03 | Date: 15 April, 2018
Calan
Duration: 00:58:41 | Date: 8 April, 2018
Guitars
Duration: 00:57:22 | Date: 1 April, 2018
NuFolk
Duration: 00:52:00 | Date: 25 March, 2018
Siblings
Duration: 00:58:02 | Date: 18 March, 2018
The Transports
Duration: 01:15:54 | Date: 11 March, 2018
Woverview 4
Duration: 00:49:17 | Date: 4 March, 2018
Woverview 3
Duration: 00:55:59 | Date: 25 February, 2018
Woverview 2
Duration: 01:00:04 | Date: 18 February, 2018
Women and the Blues
Duration: 00:54:14 | Date: 11 February, 2018
Delta Blues
Duration: 00:57:49 | Date: 4 February, 2018
Pete Seeger
Duration: 00:56:10 | Date: 28 January, 2018
Doc Watson
Duration: 01:01:46 | Date: 14 January, 2018
Sandy Denny
Duration: 01:00:23 | Date: 7 January, 2018