My All Hallows playlist

Spooky and sparkly folk songs from The Almanac and beyond

I love this upcoming moment in the year. All Hallows straddles Hallowe’en on the 31st October, All Saints on the 1st November and All Souls on the 2nd. And then Guy Fawkes comes along on the 5th November with its own mischievous, dark and sparkly energy. It is all just so rich and vibrant and packed with stories, traditions, recipes and festivities. A gift to the almanac maker! I could write a whole book.

This is also one of the great moments in the year for traditional music - I always include a folksong in my Almanacs (buy the latest Almanac here!), and I never have any trouble tracking down something All Hallows related. So I thought it would be fun to put together a playlist. Some of these are traditional folksongs from the October and November editions of my past almanacs, others are just spooky, folky songs that I think fit the atmosphere perfectly, there being a great tradition of ghostly tales put to folk music. It’s about an hour and 20 minutes long altogether. NONE of these are ‘Hallow'e’en Party!’ songs in the style of the Monster Mash/The Time Warp etc… No no. This is a playlist for sitting by the fire with a whisky, listening to the wind in the chimney, and getting just a little a bit spooked. Actually quite a bit spooked with some of them…maybe don’t look up the lyrics…

The playlist can be found below the paywall as it is for paid subscribers only, but if you are tempted to hop across you can sign up below. I loved doing this so there will definitely be more to come for other atmospheric moments in the year.