Cunning Folk

I am George Hoyle & I am Cunning Folk.

If you want to hear me on Spotify click here.

Music, Folklore & Magic are what I do. I have an album coming out in 2020 called ‘A Casual Invocation’. I think of it as Popol Vuh meets Martin Carthy meets John-Claude Vannier with a touch of Boards of Canada. You may think of it in another way. It’s inspired by folklore & magic.

I run the South East London Folklore Society. I’ve done this for years. It was started in the 1990s by Steve Wilson & a few other magical types as a cover organisation for their meetings. It was the time of the ‘Satanic Panic’ & magical types had to keep things on the QT. Under my watch it is more of an open group, a monthly pub meeting with talks ranging from traditional folklore to sacred geometry to UFOs. There are less markings on the floors & walls to clear up at the end of a night.I give talks there & also speak on folkloric subjects whenever I’m asked & if the price is right. Currently the South East London Folklore Society is a monthly online event.

I have played bass guitar in bands including Circulus, Erland & the Carnival & Gay Dad.  Cunning Folk has played & sung with the Freelance Hellraiser, Freeform Five & I am a member of Cage & Aviary.

I have recorded albums under the previous artist names; Nigel Of Bermondsey & Gentlefolk.

Kathryn Tickell said it was “a real earworm” which is ace.

Constant Companion was Folk Radio UK’s Album Of The Month: for December 2018 “It is rare for an album of predominantly traditional material to sound fresh and inspired all the way through. It is even less common for such an album to feel both thrillingly contemporary and utterly timeless. With Constant Companion Hoyle somehow managed it. As Cunning Folk, he is making some of the finest acoustic music to come out of this country in years.”

The 2017 Cunning Folk album, “Ritual Land, Uncommon Ground” came out & was described as “a quietly huge endeavour, a labour of love, full of valuable knowledge, surprising stylistic breadth and exquisite songwriting.” Folk Radio UK

“beautifully-rendered pastoral and Pagan acoustic folk-pop.” fRoots

” a record that manages to demonstrate integrity without affectation. A breath of fresh air.” Shindig