Foxfire - the album by Wise Woman

Aim

To record and produce the musical incarnation of the book Foxfire, Wolfskin & Other Tales of Shapeshifting Women by Sharon Blackie

Foxfire is the musical incarnation of the book Foxfire, Wolfskin & Other Tales of Shapeshifting Women by acclaimed author Sharon Blackie.

Composed by Wise Woman, and performed by the trio plus a collection of brilliant guest musicians, the album combines original songs, spoken word and soundscape to conjure the book’s mythical retellings of female transformation, regeneration and wildness from across Europe; 

...the wolf woman who has lost her skin

...the mighty bird princess who roams the mountainside

...the fox with a surprising secret

This Crowdfunder will fund recording, mixing and mastering Foxfire, in preparation for release in 2027.  We hope this album is just the first unfolding of a larger vision:  a live performance combining the album, storytelling and artwork into a magical concert experience.  

But for now, it all begins in the studio…

WHO ARE WE?

We are Wise Woman. We are a genre-defying vocal ensemble creating bold, original sounds that sit at the intersection of folk, music theatre and jazz. We make work about women whose voices have been forgotten, silenced or reshaped by history, and we bring those stories back to life through lush harmonies, tall tales and subversive sparkle.

Guesting on Radio 3's In Tune with Katie Derham

"YOU GUYS ABSOLUTELY ROCK"

BBC RADIO 3

“STARTLING AND SHIMMERING”

FOLK WALES

“ONE OF MY MOST EXCITING DISCOVERIES"

FRESH ON THE NET

We’re formed out of a group of theatre makers and performers, making shows with organisations as broad as the Barbican, Royal Ballet & Opera and Frantic Assembly.  As a band, the last 3 years have seen us release  two EPs, play incredible festivals from Celtic Connections to Aldeburgh, supporting BBC Folk award winners the Young’uns and touring around the UK. It’s fitting that our first full-length album is going to be something as theatrical as Foxfire.

Our debut single from 2022, by Jack Childs Productions

WHY FOXFIRE?

Dr Sharon Blackie is an award-winning author and folklorist. As well as writing seven books of fiction and nonfiction, including the bestselling classic If Women Rose Rooted, her writing has appeared in anthologies, collections and international media outlets – among them the Guardian, the Irish Times, the i and the Scotsman. Her accolades include the Society of Authors’ Roger Deakin Award, a Creative Scotland Writer’s Award and Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts.

Book cover illustrations by Helen Nicholson

"SHE KNOWS HER ARCHETYPES, KNOWS HER JUNG, KNOWS HER FAIRYTALES AND KNOWS HER NEUROSCIENCE, AND IS SICK OF BEING PATRONISED BY MEN WHO DON'T."

THE SUNDAY TIMES

"I WANT TO PRESS THIS POWERFUL BOOK INTO THE HANDS OF EVERYONE I KNOW AND SAY, LISTEN."

HOLLY RINGLAND, author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

We’ve been inspired by her writing since Wise Woman’s early days.  (Any of you who know our song, Mara, will know that it was inspired by Sharon’s reclamation of the Gaelic Selkie myth).  As you can imagine, we were beyond excited  that Sharon green-lit the opportunity to make a full-scale musical interpretation of one of our favourite books. 

Foxfire, the album, was born.

WHAT WILL FOXFIRE FEEL LIKE?

This album will centre the shapeshifters found in Foxfire, Wolfskin & Other Tales of Shapeshifting Women, its songs woven together with vocal and string soundscapes and magical readings from the book 

We will join The Cailleach, the ancient Celtic goddess, as she sets off on her sacred journey to rejuvenate the Earth, something she has done every hundred years from the beginning of time. However, this time she wonders- should she? Every century that passes, mankind gets more weary, more hardened, more uncaring. Is she too old for this, too wise for this now? But then, she thinks of the fox spirit who carries her heavy yet hope-giving secret, the haunted Irish princess who roams the mountainside and the wolf woman seeking her stolen skin… and who would know their stories if Cailleach gives up now?

At a time of ecological crisis and disconnection but also of renewed interest in folkways and old ways, the time is now to lift up stories of feminine resistance, change and joy and ask what it can teach us today.

WHY DO WE NEED YOUR HELP?

Making an album is expensive, particularly for independent artists. Crowdfunder success will cover:

• Studio time to create the album with our 7 piece dream band
• A producer and engineer to shape our layered, detailed soundworld
• Mixing and mastering costs so Foxfire goes into the world sounding its absolute best
• Paying our collaborators fairly, including the wildly talented musicians and creatives who help bring this world to life

What is also magical about Crowdfunding support is that it leads to further funding success meaning we can keep expanding Foxfire’s world; this might mean beautiful new album artwork by illustrator Helen Nicholson, or even the start of the live adaptation of the album… 

'Foxfire' by Helen Nicholson for Foxfire, Wolfskin & Other Tales of Shapeshifting Women

WHERE DO WE START?

Together with the author, Sharon Blackie, the book’s original illustrator, Helen Nicholson, and its publisher, September Publishing, we’ve brought together some beautiful rewards that make Foxfire special from the very start. You can have a good old look at them below.

By supporting Foxfire, you are not just supporting an album.  You are bringing these essential stories back into the world, fully-realised, beautifully crafted, and ready for the world to listen.

Join us on the adventure...

Photo by Talie Eigeland

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 10th June 2026 at 8:47am