So every month I do a free livestream performance & the next one is on Thursday 5th August at 8pm. I’m working on new material at the moment in advance of a monthly track release schedule so will be singing some new songs as well as songs from my repertoire. Expect a pagan hymn to the Wheel Of The Year, a mermaid with a sting in her tail, a reworking of an 18th century chapbook ballad about Jonathan Wild (the Thieftaker General) & more. Here is the booking link. These livestreams are informal & fun & are all about the music, magic & folklore & you are very welcome to join me.

Lammas is the first harvest festival in the wheel of the year. It falls on the same day as Llugnasadh; August 1. I love celebrating the festivals on the wheel of the year, they connect me to histories we share & to the turning of the seasons.

Lammas & Lugnasadh are first fruit festivals, in older times they marked the end of the hungry gap. Lammas was the Saxon Loaf Mass & Llugnasadh was the the Celtic first fruit festival.

If you like you can join me for a free online celebration & ritual on Sunday August 1st at 7pm. It will last for about 20 minutes & I will tell you a little more about the story of the festival & we can sing and enjoy the moment together. Typically folk from all over the world join in these celebrations as Cunning Folk can be anyone from anywhere.

If you are interested in booking on to the Zoom celebration you can click here.

I’m dead excited to be starting a rolling monthly music release schedule starting in September. Expect music about folklore & magic. I’ll be releasing the tracks on my Bandcamp page which you can click on here to visit. I’ll also be releasing the tracks on Spotify & Deezer & the other electronic distribution sites.

I’m finding a bunch of musical friends who want to play with me so will be releasing collaborations too. Basically it’s going to be lots of good stuff & I’ve started regular livestreams too. I love what I do & I love sharing it with you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rVG85yWiQk

Music, Magic & Folkore. That’s what I do. This week I gave a talk on Early-Modern Magic, got to grips with online streaming & released a cosmic dance track with my friend Roy.

Maurice & Charles are myself & Roy. Thus week he suggested we should call our act ‘Roy George’. I think that’s a pretty good idea. As you can hear we both love the music of the 1990s.

https://youtu.be/hGiZJ298pfg

This is what my livestream is like. Subscribe to my YouTube channel (Cunning Folk) & watch me at 7pm on Tuesday & Friday next week. It’s informal & nice.

That’s about it for my weekly blog. Go & have a look at my upcoming online events if you want to attend an online pagan ritual or an online reading group & lot’s of other good stuff.

So I have been working on livestreaming again this week & will be simultaneously streaming to YouTube, Facebook & Twitch at 7pm on Tuesdays & Fridays for short performances & chat from now on. As I start to get my production plan together for the new Cunning Folk album I will be doing longer streams of me producing songs & I will be starting a regular Cunning Folklore stream too. It’s fun. So look for Cunning Folk on Youtube or go to Cunning Folk Music on Facebook or Twitch.

I’m still dead proud of last year’s Cunning Folk album. If you haven’t had a listen you can do so here:

Another busy week of writing music, mixing tracks for release, researching 16th century occult thought & coming up with artwork for future releases. I took this picture of a Yew in an Oak in Ham Woods last week & applied some filters. I like it.

I did my first YouTube livestream of Cunning Folk Music yesterday. It was a learning curve. OBS, RME Totalmix Loopback, Ladiocast & audio video synchronisation offset had to be mastered. My brain hurt from the learning, however the livestream was really fun so will be adding regular livestreaming of acoustic performances on YouTube to my Instagram & Facebook livestreams.

I am really enjoying messing around with video. I’ll be adding audio to them soon.

A lot has gone on this week: I have put together an overview for the next Cunning Folk album. It will be called SELFS & will be an exploration of myth & folklore in song. I have run the South East London Folklore Society (SELFS) for about a decade now & it’s in my DNA now so an album about it is due.

I have mixed a track for a project I am doing in partnership with The Freelance Hellraiser called Maurice & Charles. It sounds like 1996. I liked 1996. It was fun. You can hear Maurice & Charles here:

I am starting to make tracks with my friend Jamie again. We are called Cage&Aviary. We sound like this.

& I’m researching a talk on early modern witchcraft.

Nice.

It was a busy week of mixing songs for release, writing, learning & giving folklore talks. I do miss actually meeting humans though!

I have come up with the concept for the next Cunning Folk album. The record will be called SELFS & will be about the different myths we identify with. SELFS is the acronym for the South East London Folklore Society which I have been running for about 10 years now after taking it over from Scott Wood. I’m 3 songs is & it is magical. If you want to hear or buy my latest album click here.

Valentine’s is upon us. If you are interested in an online slideshow about love divination then look no further than below!

So every Tuesday & Friday I play a song just for you on Instagram (george_hoyle) & Facebook. If you like that sort of thing come on over! The times are on the picture above.

That’s enough for now. Cheers

So this week I have been storytelling for schools, mixing cosmic dance music, preparing folklore talks & playing my guitar.

For nearly a year now I have done a livestream of a song twice a week on my Facebook page & on my Instagram (george_hoyle.) It has become part of my artistic practice: I’ve learned lots of songs & arrangements which have built my skills & inspired my writing. Pop by if you like.

I went on a walk by the Surrey Docks in Rotherhithe & there was a pool where an underpass had been. Perhaps a Russalka lives here.

I am giving a talk on the folklore of fruit next Thursday. If you like fruit & folklore then you are in luck. Here is the ticket link.

I spent time telling online folktales as part of National Storytelling Week this week. It was a blast. I do, however, look forward to seeing other humans soon.

Well it’s been another week confined to barracks. I’m finding the boredom is actually good for my creative process. I wrote a prog folk song about Banshees which I will be rehearsing for a month before recording it. It sounds like a cross between Gentle Giant, Martin Carthy era Steeleye & Radiohead. I’m sure it’s what the world is waiting for.

I have been mixing tracks for an upcoming project I am doing in partnership with my friend Roy (AKA The Freelance Hellraiser). We released a few tracks about 6 years ago which the great Andy Weatherall played out at DJ sets. Imagine Joey Beltram meets Primal Scream in Kraftwerk’s house. More about that next week no doubt.

I have also been mixing tracks for upcoming Cage & Aviary releases & a collaboration with Gemma Khawaja. Keeping busy.

On the album news front: the newest Cunning Folk album received a great review from Folk London this month. Thank you! You can listen to the album on streaming services or buy it here.

On the event front I have a bunch of free & cheap events coming up including a free live show. Follow this link to the Eventbrite page with all the details.

Every Tuesday & Friday I am performing a song at 7pm on the Cunning Folk Facebook Page. Click here to see my page & if you like it, ‘like it’.

Anyway that’s it for today’s blog. I will let you know what’s cooking next Friday.