Radio 2

The best in folk and acoustic music from Britain and beyond. This week, legendary producer Joe Boyd talks to Mark about the late Beverley Martyn and Bill Leader, who both passed away recently. Songwriter Beverley was a key figure on the British folk scene of the 60s and 70s, releasing two albums with her then-husband John Martyn before the relationship soured seriously. Joe produced those records and they were both good friends of Nick Drake. Beverley largely retreated from music-making, until returning with No Frills (1998) and The Phoenix and the Turtle (2014). She died aged 79 in April. Bill Leader was 13 years older than Joe, and began recording music for the Workers' Music Association in the late 1950s. He became an extremely prolific engineer and producer for the labels Topic and Transatlantic, before founding his own labels Trailer and Leader. His CV features a Who's Who of folk music in that era: Ewan MacColl, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Pentangle, Shirley Collins, The Dubliners, Seamus Ennis, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Planxty, Sweeney’s Men, Ray & Archie Fisher, Dick Gaughan, Christy Moore, Willie Clancy, Margaret Barry & Michael Gorman, Paddy Tunney, The Watersons, Nic Jones, Gerry Rafferty and Billy Connolly, Peter Bellamy and more. He died aged 96 in March. Joe Boyd was himself an influential producer of records for Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band and many more. He co-founded London's famous UFO Club and worked on the sound desk at Newport Folk Festival when Dylan 'went electric'. Joe's latest book is called And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music. Also this week, Julie Fowlis introduces a new single by the Spell Songs project. Produced by Pomona Audio in Salford for BBC Radio 2