Ali O'Brien's 'Sounds of Folk', was, until April 2006, a weekly feature on BBC GMR (now BBC Radio Manchester). The programme ran for three years, featuring interviews and music from local, national and international folk performers. Ali's team included Laura Hockenhull, Jenny McCormick and producer Bernard Cromarty, with a brief appearance by James Percival. The programme was usually broadcast live from BBC GMR Studio 3, and most of the guests chose to perform live on air. Occasionally we pre-recorded interviews 'on location', and we used the same equipment to produce the Radio Britfolk programmes for a year in Bernard's attic studio... Rawson Studios!!
Ali was Director of Saddleworth Folk Festival (website) for some years, and has been involved in folk since around 1970. For a time she was the organiser of the successful Cross Keys Folk Club at Uppermill.
Bernard is currently the organiser of Lymm folk club, and is Chief Musician with the Earl of Stamford Morris.
2007 | ||
| Programme Number | Broadcast Date | Programme Information |
| Saturday March 17th | St. Patrick's Special 2007 Two Hour Irish Special with guest Paul Roberts | |
| OCR001 | March 19th | Stanley Accrington (pre-recorded) |
| OCR002 | March 26th | No Guest (pre-recorded) |
| OCR003 | April 2nd | Jake |
| OCR004 | April 9th | No Guest |
| OCR005 | April 16th | Mat Walklate & Matt Fahey |
| OCR006 | April 23rd | No Guest |
| OCR007 | April 30th | Elbow Jane |
| OCR008 | May 7th | No Guest |
| OCR009 | May 14th | Harry Boardman Special with Mark Dowding, Chris Harvey, John Howarth & Gerry Kearns |
| OCR010 | May 21st | No Guest |
| OCR011 | May 28th | Loctup Together |
| OCR012 | June 4th | John Courtman |
| OCR013 | June 11th | No Guest |
| OCR014 | June 18th | No Guest |
| OCR015 | June 25th | Stewart Lever - Railway Lymm Festival |
| OCR016 | July 2nd | John Howarth & Gerry Kearns |
| OCR017 | July 9th | No Guest |
| OCR018 | July 16th | Geoff Miller - Saddleworth Festival |
| OCR019 | July 23rd | Geoff Miller, Scowie & Bernard - Saddleworth Festival post-mortem |
| OCR020 | July 30th | Scolds Bridle & Dave Walmisley |
| OCR021 | Aug 6th | Lesley Marsden |
| OCR022 | Aug 13th | Paul Walker |
| OCR023 | Aug 20th | No Guest |
| OCR024 | Aug 27th | Clive Gregson |
| OCR025 | Sept 3rd | Gary Aspey + Joan & Tony Martin |
| OCR026 | Sept 10th | No Guest |
| OCR027 | Sept 17th | Fiona Simpson |
| OCR028 | Sept 24th | Mark Dowding |
| OCR029 | Oct 1st | Jim Schofield |
| OCR030 | Oct 8th | John & Pauline (Open Door Folk Club) |
| OCR031 | Oct 15th | George Papavgeris at the Open Door |
| OCR032 | Oct 22nd | Better Late |
| OCR033 | Oct 29th | Acoustic Collective |
| OCR034 | Nov 5th | Chris & Siobhan Nelson |
| OCR035 | Nov 12th | Les Barker / Cara Dillon (telephone pre-rec) |
| OCR036 | Nov 19th | Hissyfit / Oysterband (phone)/ Blue Murder (phone) |
| OCR037 | Nov 26th | Zoe Mulford / Rachel Unthank (phone) |
| OCR038 | Dec 3rd | No Guest |
| OCR039 | Dec 10th | The Hometowners with Tony Downes |
| OCR040 | Dec 17th | 4square |
| OCR041 | Dec 24th | Christmas Eve Two Hour Special |
| OCR042 | Dec 31st | New Year's Eve Two Hour Special |
2008 | ||
| Programme Number | Broadcast Date | Programme Information |
| OCR043 | Jan 7th | No Guest |
| OCR044 | Jan 14th | No Fixed Abode |
| OCR045 | Jan 21st | Malc Gibbons |
| OCR046 | Jan 28th | Gerry McNeice |
| OCR047 | Feb 4th | Angelcynn |
| OCR048 | Feb 11th | Will Lang - Park Bench Social Club (phone) |
| OCR049 | Feb 18th | JP Slidewell |
| OCR050 | Feb 25th | Strangeworld / Wizz Jones (phone) |
| OCR051 | March 3rd | Derek Gifford |
| OCR052 | March 10th | Duncan McFarlane |
| Saturday March 15th | St. Patrick's Special 2008 Two Hour Irish Special with guest Alan Mayall | |
| OCR053 | March 17th | Glasson Maritime Festival |
| OCR054 | March 24th | August Sutherland - Shimeon - Emma |
| OCR055 | March 31st | Hamish Currie |
| OCR056 | April 7th | Ember (phone) |
| OCR057 | April 14th | Sid & Liz Calderbank |
| OCR058 | April 21st | Michelle Holding |
| OCR059 | April 28th | Jon Orpheus - Acoustic Eclectic |
| OCR060 | May 5th | Hanky Park (Tony Downes & Pete Martin) |
| OCR061 | May 12th | No Guest |
| OCR062 | May 19th | Strawhead |
| OCR063 | May 26th | No Guest (Jake) |
| OCR064 | June 2nd | No Guest (pre-rec) |
| OCR065 | June 9th | No Guest (pre-rec) |
| OCR066 | June 16th | Stewart Lever - Lymm Festival |
| OCR067 | June 23rd | Jenna Reid (phone) |
| OCR068 | June 30th | Shimeon Sutherland |
| OCR069 | July 7th | Sarah & Mike Turner |
| OCR070 | July 14th | SAFRA - Geoff Miller, Jan & Pete Shevlin |
| OCR071 | July 21st | Oddfellows (Bill Leader, John Ellis, John Howarth) |
| OCR072 | July 28th | Jeremy Davies |
| OCR073 | Aug 4th | No Guest (Jake) |
| OCR074 | Aug 11th | Jon Orpheus - Eclectic Live |
| OCR075 | Aug 18th | Nelson Peach |
| OCR076 | Aug 25th | No Guest (Jake) |
| OCR077 | Sept 1st | Gordon Giltrap (phone), Twa Corbies |
| OCR078 | Sept 8th | Dave Molloy & Pete Benbow |
| OCR079 | Sept 15th | Pre-rec - Studio move from Westhulme to Royal Oldham |
| OCR080 | Sept 22nd | Pete Abbott |
| OCR081 | Sept 29th | Trebuchet |
| OCR082 | Oct 6th | Holding-Slidewell |
| OCR083 | Oct 13th | Swinton Festival |
| OCR084 | Oct 20th | Song & Story |
| OCR085 | Oct 27th | Phil Mayer & John Denny |
| OCR086 | Nov 3rd | Garron Frith |
| OCR087 | Nov 10th | Twa Corbies - new CD |
| OCR088 | Nov 17th | Geoff Higginbottom |
| OCR089 | Nov 24th | No Guest |
| OCR090 | Dec 1st | John Orpheus |
| OCR091 | Dec 8th | Bandersnatch - new CD |
| OCR092 | Dec 15th | Brian Peters |
| OCR093 | Dec 22nd | Christmas Two Hour Special |
| OCR094 | Dec 29th | New Year Two Hour Special |
2009 | ||
| Programme Number | Broadcast Date | Programme Information |
| OCR095 | Jan 5th | No Guest |
| OCR096 | Jan 12th | Bernard Wrigley |
| OCR097 | Jan 19th | Aidan Jolly |
| OCR098 | Jan 26th | No Guest |
| OCR086_R | Feb 2nd | Garron Frith - re-run (snow) |
| OCR099 | Feb 9th | No Guest - Radio 2 Folk Awards |
| OCR100 | Feb 16th | No Guest (Jake) |
| OCR101 | Feb 23rd | Lorelei Loveridge |
| OCR102 | March 2nd | Martin Green - Lau (Bury Met pre-rec), Barrie Cottam |
| OCR103 | March 9th | Trio Threlfall |
| Saturday March 14th | St. Patrick's Special 2009 Two Hour Irish Special with The Hometowners + Tony Downes | |
| OCR104 | March 16th | Adrian Jolly |
| OCR105 | March 23rd | Midway Folk Club - Peter Hood & Lynda Edwardes |
| OCR106 | March 30th | No Guest |
| OCR107 | April 6th | Brian Preston |
| OCR108 | April 13th | Heather McNeil |
| OCR109 | April 20th | Tom Bliss |
| OCR110 | April 27th | Claire Mooney |
| OCR111 | May 4th | No Guest |
| OCR112 | May 11th | No Guest (pre-rec) |
| OCR113 | May 18th | No Guest |
| OCR114 | May 25th | No Guest |
| OCR115 | June 1st | Redmayne |
| OCR116 | June 8th | Bernard Cromarty - FIRST BROADCAST FROM FAILSWORTH |
| OCR117 | June 15th | Stewart Lever/Lymm Festival (pre-rec) |
| OCR118 | June 22nd | (Ali on holiday - Bernard presenting) |
| OCR119 | June 29th | No Guest |
| OCR120 | July 6th | No Guest |
| OCR121 | July 13th | Peter Fox (SAFRA) / Ruth Fuga & Ken Powell |
| OCR122 | July 20th | Richard Knott (Lymm Songwriting Comp. Winner 2007 & 2009) Dave & Ann Howden |
| OCR123 | July 27th | Paul Frost & Vincent Sheedy |
| OCR124 | Aug 3rd | No Guest |
| OCR125 | Aug 10th | Gary & Vera + Jeremy Davies |
| Sunday | Aug 16th | PETERLOO - A Musical for Radio Commemorating the 190th Anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre |
| OCR126 | Aug 17th | Barbara & Peter Snape |
| OCR127 | Aug 24th | Dai Thomas |
| OCR128 | Aug 31st | No Guest |
| OCR129 | Sept 7th | Anthony John Clarke - CD launch: 'Two CDs in a fancy box' |
| OCR130 | Sept 14th | Gerry McNeice - CD launch / Niamh Boadle |
| OCR131 | Sept 21st | No Guest |
| OCR132 | Sept 28th | The Bailey Sisters |
| OCR133 | Oct 5th | Dave Walmisley - CD launch: 'Stuff' |
| OCR134 | Oct 12th | Derek Waudby / Telephone: Jackie Oates |
| OCR135 | Oct 19th | Chris Turner |
| OCR136 | Oct 26th | Ewan McLennan / Telephone: David Ferrard |
| OCR137 | Nov 2nd | Jamie Smith & Iolo Whelan - Mabon (Bury Met pre-rec) |
| OCR138 | Nov 9th | Telephone: Martyn Joseph |
| OCR139 | Nov 16th | Lindsay Murray - Manchester Children's Hospital Fundraiser promo (Kerfuffle's Sam Sweeney via phone) |
| OCR140 | Nov 23rd | Phil Drane |
| OCR141 | Nov 30th | No Guest |
| OCR142 | Dec 7th | (pre rec) |
| OCR143 | Dec 14th | Telephone: George Papavgeris |
| OCR144 | Dec 21st | Christmas Two Hour Special |
| OCR145 | Dec 28th | New Year Two Hour Special |
2010 | ||
| Programme Number | Broadcast Date | Programme Information |
| OCR146 | Jan 4th | Les Pilling |
| OCR147 | Jan 11th | Dom Collins |
| OCR148 | Jan 18th | No Guest |
| OCR149 | Jan 25th | No Guest |
| OCR150 | Feb 1st | SheedyFrost |
| OCR151 | Feb 8th | Stephen Paul |
| OCR152 | Feb 15th | David Swann |
| OCR153 | Feb 22nd | Telephone: Dave & Julie Evardson |
| OCR154 | Mar 1st | Ghostsong / Telephone: Jenna (Witts) |
| OCR155 | Mar 8th | No Guest |
| OCR156 | Mar 15th | No Guest |
| OCR157 | Mar 22nd | Chris & Siobhan Nelson |
| OCR158 | Mar 29th | Jaywalkers |
| OCR159 | April 5th | No Guest: Theme Night - Spring |
| OCR160 | April 12th | No Guest |
| OCR161 | April 19th | Telephone: Emily Smith |
| OCR162 | April 26th | Telephone: John Boseley (The Bounty Hounds) |
| OCR163 | May 3rd | No Guest |
| OCR164 | May 10th | Roy Clinging / Telephone: Chris Ricketts |
| OCR165 | May 17th | Ray Rooney (BMC presenting) |
| OCR166 | May 24th | Don & Heather Davies - Sale Folk Club |
| OCR167 | May 31st | Telephone: John Owen - Wirral Folk on the Coast Festival |
| OCR168 | Jun 7th | Sophie Parkes - For Folk's Sake |
| OCR169 | Jun 14th | Dylan Owen |
| OCR170 | Jun 21st | No Guest |
| OCR171 | Jun 28th | Dave Minich (Cleckheaton Folk Festival) |
| OCR172 | July 5th | Sid Calderbank |
| OCR173 | July 12th | Telephone: Twelfth Day |
| OCR174 | July 19th | The Bailey Sisters / Dave & Ann Howden |
| OCR175 | July 26th | Graham Bellinger & the Deportees |
| OCR176 | Aug 2nd | David Tattersall & Freddie Openshaw |
| OCR177 | Aug 9th | No Guest |
| OCR178 | Aug 16th | No Guest |
| OCR179 | Aug 23rd | Zoë Mulford |
| OCR180 | Aug 30th | No Guest - Fylde Festival Preview |
| OCR181 | Sept 6th | Bruce Michael Baillie |
| OCR182 | Sept 13th | Sara Kirkham (Goblins in the Ginnel) |
| OCR183 | Sept 20th | Telephone: Jez Lowe |
| OCR184 | Sept 27th | Bram Taylor |
| OCR185 | Oct 4th | Ewan McLennan |
| OCR186 | Oct 11th | Joseph Topping (Elbow Jane) |
| OCR187 | Oct 18th | Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts |
| OCR188 | Oct 25th | Mike Billington |
| OCR189 | Nov 1st | Wendy Arrowsmith / Telephone: Jamie (Mabon) |
| OCR190 | Nov 8th | Nick Caffrey & Ed McGurk |
| OCR191 | Nov 15th | Strawhead |
| OCR192 | Nov 22nd | Graham Bellinger & the Deportees |
| OCR193 | Nov 29th | Emma Sweeney |
| OCR194 | Dec 6th | No Guest |
| OCR195 | Dec 13th | Brenda Judge / Dave South |
| OCR196 | Dec 20th | No Guest |
| OCR197 | Dec 24th | Christmas Eve Two Hour Special |
| OCR198 | Dec 31st | New Year's Eve Two Hour Special |
2011 | ||
| Programme Number | Broadcast Date | Programme Information |
| OCR199 | Jan 10th | No Guest |
| OCR200 | Jan 17th | Mike Billington |
| OCR201 | Jan 24th | (no guest) |