SATURDAY 29 AUGUST 2009

SAT 19:00 Only Connect (b00mbt58)
Series 2

Chessman v Mathematicians - The Competition for Third Place

Quiz show presented by Victoria Coren in which knowledge will only take you so far, as patience and lateral thinking are also vital.

Three avid chess players take on a trio unified by their love of mathematics as they compete for the glory of third place in the series, trying to draw together the connections between elements which, at first glance, seem utterly random.


SAT 19:30 Seasick Steve: Bringing It All Back Home (b00gvk8x)
Documentary which joins former hobo and festival favourite bluesman Seasick Steve on a trip back to his old stomping grounds in America's Deep South. Filmed in Mississippi and Tennessee, the programme follows the musician into his natural habitat of run-down juke joints, roadside diners and freight-train yards, as he reflects on his past life and recent rise to fame.

In addition to Steve's raw, stomping tunes, the soundtrack features Mississippi Fred McDowell, Robert Johnson, RL Burnside and BB King.


SAT 20:00 Folk America (b00gvk91)
Birth of a Nation

Three-part documentary series on American folk music, tracing its history from the recording boom of the 1920s to the folk revival of the 1960s.

The opening part looks at how, in the 1920s, record companies scoured the American south for talent to sell. This was a golden age of American music, as the likes of the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Poole, Dock Boggs and Mississippi John Hurt burst onto record, eager to have a share in the new industry and the money it made, only to lapse into obscurity when the depression hit at the start of the 30s.

Contributors include Judy Collins, Steve Earle, Tom Paxton and Pete Seeger, surviving relations of 1920s greats such as Mississippi John Hurt, the Carter Family and Uncle Dave Macon, plus three actual survivors of the era - guitarist Slim Bryant, banjoist Wade Mainer and Delta bluesman 'Honeyboy' Edwards.


SAT 21:00 Folk America (b00h6xmb)
This Land is Your Land

Three-part documentary series on American folk music, tracing its history from the recording boom of the 1920s to the folk revival of the 1960s.

In the depression of the 1930s, John Lomax found convicted murderer Leadbelly in a southern jail. Leadbelly's music was never quite as pure and untouched by pop as Lomax believed, but it set a new agenda for folk music, redefining it as the voice of protest, the voice of the outsider and the oppressed.

Dustbowl drifter Woody Guthrie fitted the mould perfectly and the two of them teamed up with Lomax's son Alan, Pete Seeger and Josh White - a group of friends who believed 'they could make a better world if they all got together and just sang about it'. Their songs and their radical politics took them to high places of influence, but brought about their downfall in the blacklisting 1950s.

Contributors include Pete Seeger, Rambling Jack Elliot, Anna Lomax, Tom Paxton, Roger McGuinn, Woody Guthrie's sister and daughter and Josh White's son.


SAT 22:00 Folk America (b00hd379)
Blowin' in the Wind

Three-part documentary series on American folk music, tracing its history from the recording boom of the 1920s to the folk revival of the 1960s.

In the 1960s a new generation, spearheaded by Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, took folk to the top of the charts and made it the voice of youthful protest. Whilst the northern folk revivalists helped bring civil rights to the south, the Newport Folk Festival brought the old music of the south to the college kids in the north. However, when Dylan turned up at Newport in 1965 with an electric guitar things would never be the same again.

With Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Robbie Robertson, Stephen Stills, Country Joe McDonald, Roger McGuinn, Odetta and Tom Paxton.


SAT 23:00 Folk America at the Barbican (b00gvk93)
Hollerers, Stompers and Old-Time Ramblers

Hosted by maverick bluesman Seasick Steve, this concert from the Barbican in London showcases an exciting revival of the old-time musical traditions first recorded in the American South in the 1920s.

It features Appalachian mountain string band music, vaudeville swing, junk shop blues, creole dance tunes and folk country ballads, all delivered via energetic performances with a fresh twist. An eclectic line-up of young and emerging talent includes CW Stoneking, The Wiyos, Allison Williams and Chance McCoy, Diana Jones, and Cedric Watson and Bijoux Creole.


SAT 00:00 Later... Folk America (b00h6xmd)
Compilation of performances by artists from the American folk, blues, bluegrass and country scenes that revisits the spirit of the 1920s and beyond with a distinctly Southern flavour.

Including Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Blind Boys of Alabama, Norah Jones, Odetta, Old Crow Medicine Show, Chatham County Line, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and Buddy Guy and many more.


SAT 01:00 ... Sings Dylan (b0074rpk)
A look through the archives at some of the many artists who have come into BBC studios to sing their versions of Bob Dylan songs. Featured performers include Peter, Paul and Mary, Lulu, the Byrds, Joan Baez, Eric Clapton, Madeleine Peyroux, Bryan Ferry, UB40, Julie Felix, Manfred Mann, the Brian Auger Trinity and Pops Staples.


SAT 01:40 Seasick Steve: Bringing It All Back Home (b00gvk8x)
[Repeat of broadcast at 19:30 today]


SAT 02:15 Folk America at the Barbican (b00gvk93)
[Repeat of broadcast at 23:00 today]


SAT 03:15 Later... Folk America (b00h6xmd)
[Repeat of broadcast at 00:00 today]