Sally

A screenshot of the BBC Radio 4 page for Saturday Live (hosted by Adrian Chiles), showing the details for the upcoming broadcast on Saturday morning (28th February, 9am). It reads as follows: Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Shipwreck Hunting, Sea Shanties, and the Inheritance Tracks of Mike Wozniak. Sea Shanties is outlined in red FOR SOME REASON, HM.

We're a normal amount of excited to head on over to Radio 4 tomorrow morning and have a chat with the one and only Adrian Chiles (there will, of course, be some songs too)! Get your radios tuned in for 9am!

#TheLongestJohns #Radio4 #AdrianChiles #SaturdayLive #Shanties

A tour poster showing upcoming dates for the TLJ Canada tour. It shows the Ends of the Earth cartoon artwork (depicting a tropical island on the back of a giant crocodile, strewn with various other animals such as hippos, snakes, and manatees, and towering rickety structures as signs of habitation). The dates are as follows: July 2026 Fri 03 - Westben Arts Festival, Campbellford, Ontario Sat 04 - Mariposa Folk Festival Sun 05 - Mariposa Folk Festival Wed 08 - Lee's Palace, Toronto Thu 09 - Ottawa BluesFest Fri 10 - Beanfield, Montreal

We're coming to east Canada this July!
There's shows at
Westben Arts Festival, Campbellford
Mariposa Folk Festival
Lee's Palace, Toronto
Ottaway Bluesfest
and Beanfield, Montreal!

Tickets go on sale on Thursday, so make your plans and we'll see you then!

#TheLongestJohns #Canada #Tour #LiveMusic

YouTube video by Home Free Home Free - The Parting Glass

And so Home Free's wonderful Challenge the Sea album comes to an end with this traditional farewell song, featuring their partners on backing vocals and Darren Rust, their producer, on guitar.

youtu.be/8ONcMuYS3cA?...

Elf-fair Lady Lyrics So many songs and tales they sayHow the Elf Queen steals some men awayTo her shining land beyond the seaBut all ‘til now have chosen to fleeOh they have faint hearts that fear theeNow I woul…

"Now I am old they point and peer / As every day I await you here / I know you will come and heal my pain / Soon with you I shall dance again". Just posted a new recording of a song I wrote nearly 30 years ago about a mortal in love with the Queen of Elfland. apoolofsong.wordpress.com/elf-fair-lady/

I don't know nearly enough about these things, but I know JD of @thelongestjohns.bsky.social always makes DADGAD sound wonderful.

🦆

Someone had better warn @thelongestjohns.bsky.social - they've found Moby Duck. 😱

YouTube video by The Longest Johns Moby Duck | Live at the O2 Bristol

Oh, no, it's the mallard of such malice...

youtu.be/qP_h5BSXi64?...

YouTube video by Home Free Home Free - Nantucket

Premiere tomorrow of the video for Home Free's version of @thelongestjohns.bsky.social song Nantucket.

Now I have two versions to love.

youtu.be/MPVrPGvv-BI?...

White Squall, by Stan Rogers, is a truly beautiful and sorrowful song that weve loved for years and took great joy in getting to sing! We have a kickstarter for our next album, Ends of the Earth… White Squall by Stan Rogers | The Longest Johns

And alongside that (extremely cool) Kickstarter news, we've got a new video for Stan Rogers' White Squall that premieres at 6pm UTC! Click yourself on over to Youtube to catch that
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVnR...

#TheLongestJohns #FolkMusic #StanRogers #Shanty

End of free travel to Oxonmoot then - my Stagecoach season ticket I need for work anyway used to get me to Oxford as well. Ah well, it was good while it lasted.

Pulhams do run good services in modern buses.

YouTube video by The Longest Johns The Parting Glass | The Longest Johns feat. @NatalieHolmes

It's such a lovely song, can't wait for Home Free to release their video for it.

Have you heard the Longest Johns version?

youtu.be/B0lD6y-R6yc?...

Absolutely incredible thread

Circle Song Lyrics Circle round, hand in handRing of faces, ring of stoneGathered from across the land We are many, we are oneBetween the salt loch and the sweetRing of faces, ring of stoneJoining in the holy …

Happy solstice everyone! Here's a song about how it might have been celebrated in Orkney about 5000 years ago apoolofsong.wordpress.com/circle-song/ #wintersolstice #orkney

A poster for the upcoming 'Ends of the Earth' tour from The Longest Johns. It shows Robbie, Andy, and JD arranged against a luscious verdant backdrop of tropical-looking foliage. Robbie is crouched down in a colourful shirt, holding a camera. Andy has a hat on and a dark blue shirt with a picture of feathers on it, and JD is wearing a swanky green suit whilst reclining in an armchair. Behind Robbie is what appears to be some kind of wooden cabinet, with an old timey wireless radio on top. There is also a lamp in the background. The tour dates are as follows: May 2026 Fri 08 - Dublin, Academy Sat 09 - Belfast, The Limelight 2 Mon 11 - Liverpool, O2 Academy Tue 12 - Lancaster, Kanteena Wed 13 - Glasgow, Old Fruit Market Fri 15 - Newcastle, Old Fruit Shop Sat 16 - Manchester, Academy 2 Sun 17 - Leeds, Irish Centre Tue 19 - Oxford, O2 Academy Wed 20 - Cardiff, Tramshed Fri 22 - Exeter, Phoenix Mon 25 - Southampton, the 1865 Tue 26 - Cambridge, Junction Wed 27 - London, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire Thu 28 - Nottingham, Rock City Sat 30 - Bristol, Beacon

It's Toursday, tell your friends! The perfect gift for anyone who appreciates a good show (it can even be you, treat yourself)
Site's had a bit of a graphical revamp too, and is looking rather pretty
www.thelongestjohns.com/live
International dates, as ever, to follow!

#TheLongestJohns #UKTour

We are thrilled to announce the dates and location of #Westmoot26! It will take place May 22-24, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Bookings open soon, watch our website!https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/westmoot-2026/

A poster for the upcoming 'Ends of the Earth' tour from The Longest Johns. It shows Robbie, Andy, and JD arranged against a luscious verdant backdrop of tropical-looking foliage. Robbie is crouched down in a colourful shirt, holding a camera. Andy has a hat on and a dark blue shirt with a picture of feathers on it, and JD is wearing a swanky green suit whilst reclining in an armchair. Behind Robbie is what appears to be some kind of wooden cabinet, with an old timey wireless radio on top. There is also a lamp in the background. The tour dates are as follows: May 2026 Fri 08 - Dublin, Academy Sat 09 - Belfast, The Limelight 2 Mon 11 - Liverpool, O2 Academy Tue 12 - Lancaster, Kanteena Wed 13 - Glasgow, Old Fruit Market Fri 15 - Newcastle, Old Fruit Shop Sat 16 - Manchester, Academy 2 Sun 17 - Leeds, Irish Centre Tue 19 - Oxford, O2 Academy Wed 20 - Cardiff, Tramshed Fri 22 - Exeter, Phoenix Mon 25 - Southampton, the 1865 Tue 26 - Cambridge, Junction Wed 27 - London, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire Thu 28 - Nottingham, Rock City Sat 30 - Bristol, Beacon

Next year we go to THE ENDS OF THE EARTH!
Presale goes live TOMORROW 10am, code available through our mailing list (bio.site/TheLongestJo...) and Discord community
This is just the start of the news (international dats to follow) so keep your eyes here for more...

#TheLongestJohns #Tour #LiveMusic

Would that be connected with market towns like Chipping Campden or Chipping Norton?

A small ginger cat sits neatly in a brown bookshop.org box. Text reads 'free shipping on cat forts (and the books that come in them).

This weekend there's free shipping from our UK bookshop.org. Your cat will thank you for it.

If you're looking for non-fiction, our research stack might be the list for you: uk.bookshop.org/list...

If you needed more reasons to love these guys - the lengths they will go to make a music video. 😄

YouTube video by Home Free Home Free - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Today is the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Recently, Home Free released their video for their cover of the Gordon Lightfoot original. Give it a listen. The video pays tribute to the 29 lives lost on the Fitz.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um1P...

Some of my favourite Tolkien artwork, illustrating one of my favourite Lord of the Rings passages.

Really wish I could get to this - these guys are so talented and fun. Highly recommended.

A thumbnail image for the upcoming TLJ livestream, titled 28 Streams Later. It is extremely red, with a pair of spooky eyes in the background (but bespectacled, like JD's). Andy, JD, and Robbie are shown smaller and below, in silhouette, holding a banjo, a guitar, and a mandolin respectively, as if ready to use them as weapons to fend off the zombie horde.

It's almost streamtime! We'll be going live in less time than it takes a zombie to run the 100m! Unless it's one of those running zombies in which case make it a few of those! See you there...
youtube.com/live/aHpvCXQ...

#TheLongestJohns #LiveStream #FolkMusic #Shanty

Thank you. 😃

Octenth again - and I'm seeing them live this evening. 😃

A picture from the Home Free and Longest Johns show in Ohio, where both bands PLUS the majestic Sean Dagher are on stage in the middle of performing the song Santiana. The lighting for this particular song is a warm orange. Everyone is sort of haphazardly arranged around the stage because it's a very mobile performance, and but a single image doesn't really convey the mobility.

A thoroughly purple shot from the closing performance of Northwest Passage, where the full ensemble (again including Sean Dagher, still majestic) is arranged across the front of the stage in a line. Lots of hands clasped in front or behind, and a sombre reverence for the song. And then there's iRobbie (an iPad on top of a mannequin in t-shirt and board shorts), with his arms up as if announcing a touchdown, but also with his eyes shut in respect.

A closing shot from the show, where all members are lined up with arms round each other having just taken a synchronised bow to close out the show. Apart from iRobbie who is still in the 'touchdown' pose.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came Into the Deep with us. You have been a wonderful audience, and it's been a tremendous pleasure to join voices with yourselves, @homefreeguys.bsky.social, and Sean Dagher! ❤️

#TheLongestJohns #HomeFree #IntoTheDeep #LiveMusic #FolkMusic #Shanty

Home Free + The Longest Johns + Seán Dagher - LIVE TODAY! (Into The Deep Tour) YouTube video by Home Free

Had the most incredible evening yesterday watching the livestream of the last show in this joint @homefreeguys.bsky.social and @thelongestjohns.bsky.social tour. I believe you can still buy tickets if you can watch in the next 24 hours or so.

YouTube video by Windborne Singers Grey Funnel Line - Live in Ely Cathedral (Windborne)

Just beautiful

Happy Hobbit Day everyone! On this day in 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien gave us The Hobbit, our doorway into Middle-earth. Inside he hid a gift to his favourite aunt. My latest blog post will put you in the picture! tinyurl.com/hobbitongrange
#Tolkien #HobbitDay #Hobbit