a london living-room folk night is getting its own festival, for everyone who can't fit in the room

Ned Holland started Common Folk to get his own songs heard. Five nights later, 18 artists have played his London living room, and the next session already has a waiting list. The first was on 28 May 2026, on the top floor of the London house he lives in. Up to 40 people sit on the sofas and the floor, and nobody pays to get in. There are no public tickets: the way in is a WhatsApp group whose join link opens for 24 hours the day after each session, and it has grown from about 40 people to 190 (Common Folk figures, October 2026). Artists play original songs and don't need to plug tickets. Every night ends with all of that night's artists sitting down together for songs the room can sing, which have included Jolene and It Ain't Me Babe. "Even if it's a session I've not performed at, I'll always get involved on the banjo," Ned says. Artists who have played include Sebastian Schub, the Hamburg-born, London-based songwriter on Island EMI/Capitol Records who has opened for Noah Kahan. Every session is filmed by the filmmaker Bertie Courtenay. Now Common Folk is going outdoors, for everyone who can't fit in the living room, and close to where Ned grew up. The first Common Folk Festival is on Saturday 22 May 2027 at Middleton Bottom, Broad Chalke, near Salisbury, in the Cranborne Chase National Landscape, an International Dark Sky Reserve since 2019. Ned, the son of the historian James Holland, has played the Chalke History Festival in the same village, which his father co-founded, for the past two summers. There will be music through the day and into the evening on a main stage in a natural amphitheatre, camping, a guided nature walk led by the landowners, and a talk from Ben Goldsmith, who hosts the Rewilding the World podcast. Ned and Alex Helsby, a folk singer-songwriter from Hertfordshire, are the first acts confirmed. "Ultimately, the music is the starting point rather than the end point," Ned says. "I want Common Folk to grow into something that connects people more broadly with the world around them — including, eventually, using music and storytelling to help young people develop a deeper relationship with nature."