Cara Dillon and Sam Lakeman have premiered a brand new song as part of BBC Radio 2’s award-winning project “21st Century Folk”.
This landmark series introduces five new songs about five inspiring people from around the UK, and airs live across a week of BBC programming from Monday 29th July to Sunday 4th August.
Cara and Sam’s song, called “Flow”, is an inspiring song written for Jeff Allen, a sea kayaker and epic adventurer, who found peace and purpose on the sea, far away from previous traumas and depression.
The RNLI marks its 200th anniversary in 2024, this year’s theme is about people whose lives are intertwined with the coast and the sea. Each of the Radio 2 listeners have been paired with a folk singer-songwriters who have written original songs based on their lives and tales of the water.
Cara Dillon says:
*Folk Music is everyone’s music, so creating new songs about lives today is incredibly important. You feel you are making a real difference as music can be such a powerful healing force and a song can convey so much to so many. We’re really proud to be involved in 21st Century Folk, it’s been a such a genuinely rewarding experience for us.”
Sam Lakeman, who co-wrote Jeff’s song with Cara, says:
“Jeff’s story was incredibly inspiring – we simply took his experiences and the emotions he expressed so vividly and put them to music. It was an unexpectedly powerful thing to do. Connecting folk story-tellers like us with remarkable people to celebrate and preserve their inspiring stories is a privilege, there’s no other way to describe it. ”
Helen Thomas (Head of BBC Radio 2) says:
“Radio 2’s commitment to specialist music is unsurpassed on UK radio and, following last year’s award-winning 21st Century Folk, I’m proud that it is returning later this month. Once again, we’ll be putting beautifully crafted British story-telling through the prism of folk music at the heart of our daytime output and on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer.”
Mark Radcliffe says:
“I’m so proud to be part of the return of the award-winning 21st Century Folk. It is a wholly noble endeavour. It adheres to the age old tradition of telling the stories of peoples’ lives in folk song whilst simultaneously highlighting experiences that chime with many of us.”
To hear Jeff’s full story, find 21st Century Folk on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0021jsm
“Flow” is officially released on Friday August 2nd and will be available to stream or download via all major music services or click HERE
For further details please visit: www.caradillon.co.uk
