Don’t miss the chance to catch this rare festival appearance by an incredible band very close to our hearts, featuring live painting by acclaimed artist and friend of the festival Jackie Morris, with much loved tracks from their first 2 studio albums plus… premiering stunning new music from their forthcoming new album In Thin Air!

Team FbtO are incredibly proud to have conceived of and commissioned The Lost Words: Spell Songs, a musical companion piece to The Lost Words and The Lost Spells the acclaimed books by author Robert Macfarlane and artist Jackie Morris, featuring the incredible, multifaceted talents and collaborative genius of our Spell Singers: Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter and Jim Molyneux.

Since we first gathered the Spell Singers together in 2018, the band have released 3 albums – The Lost Words Spell Songs (2019), Spell Songs II: Let The Light In (2021) and Spell Songs – Gifts of Light (our digital live album released in 2023), all inspired by the creatures, art and poetry of the ‘Lost’ books.

Spell Songs has performed twice at Folk by the Oak, each time enjoying a rapturous reception from our wonderful audience!

The band has also undertaken three UK wide tours with repeated venue sell outs and standing ovations, a sell out Main Stage performance at the Hay Literary Festival, and even a globally livestreamed performance from the iconic Hintze Hall of the National History Museum in London, raising £105,000 for their Urban Nature Project.

Anyone who has enjoyed a live Spell Songs performance will know they are steeped in nature, exceptional folk and world music, spoken word, native languages, proverbs, birdsong and glorious artwork, with inspirational artist Jackie Morris joining the band live on stage to conjure Otters, Foxes and Ravens from watercolour and ink as the Spell Singers play.

Since their last performance in 2022 we have had repeated calls for their return, so we are thrilled we will be sharing this uplifting, hopeful and an inspiring homage to nature with you once more!