Folksongs & Storytelling

Sam Lee’s reputation as a world class folk singer and renowned conservationist precedes him and we feel extremely privileged and excited to welcome him to The Shaking Bog Festival for an intimate evening of folksongs and storytelling in the atmospheric surroundings of St Patrick’s Church.

“I wanted to sing a vision of what a conversation between us and the land could be, to restore and inspire a practice of songful immersion in nature that brings with it healing, something we need now more than ever.”
Sam Lee, November 2023

The folk custodian of the native song of the British Isles, leading voice in the environmental movement, and creator of the hugely successful and popular book, Singing with Nightingales, Sam Lee has become, over the course of four critically acclaimed albums, a chronicler and artistic spokesperson of the natural world. Lee’s commitment to both the indigenous song culture of the British Isles - including Ireland where he has collected songs from the travelling community - and its nature, is heartfelt and deeply rooted and his work, including his latest album songdreaming is infused with a love of the natural world and a fierce commitment to fight for its preservation.

For Sam, the connection to the natural world is also a connection to a better way of being and a desire to recreate an eden that is ever present in his work and the songs he sings are more than a history, they are a living, vibrant, vital connection to our very being - and so he is the perfect guest for The Shaking Bog. This is a not to be missed performance.

“Over the past dozen years, no one has tended the sacred flame of folk song more assiduously than London’s Sam Lee. Singer, promoter, wilderness expert (he trained with Ray Mears), Lee’s principal mission has been “finding new soundworlds for old songs”, many of them learned at the hearths of the travelling community.”
Neil Spencer, The Guardian