I’m releasing a spooky treat for Halloween, and I want to make sure you get the opportunity to enjoy it.
image: promo graphic for Sooj’s Halloween 2024 storytelling release of Phil Brucato’s fairy tale, “Gramma Wolf’s Garden”, featuring a photo of Sooj sitting before a fallen sequoia tree. She wears a dark red terrycloth coat with a high buttoned collar, black boots, black pants, and gray-and-black striped fingerless gloves. Her head is tilted back towards the tree trunk, and her eyes are closed. She sits with her knees drawn loosely before her, hands clasped across them.
This is a storytelling collaboration many years in the making, with my author brother Phil Brucato. I’m so grateful he’s allowed me to bring his brilliant story to life. Listen for free and pre-order your download here!
I’ll host a FREE listening party online tomorrow night, shortly before the release drops! RSVP and join us here for that!
“Gramma Wolf’s Garden” is a gorgeous fairy tale that looks at an alternate Red Riding Hood retelling through the lens of real magic, herb lore, family drama, and wolf pack dynamics. I fell in love with it long ago, and when Phil asked me to be its narrator for a full audiobook (still in progress) of his collection, Valhalla with a Twist of Lethe, I was overjoyed. Yall know I love to read aloud, to produce audiobooks, and to narrate them, in addition to writing, recording, and performing my songs. This is the coolest bit of work along those storytelling lines that I’ve done in a long time. Listen free and enjoy for yourselves!
CW: grief, parent-child conflict, brief mention of childbirth, death of a spouse, death by injury and by magical causes.
This download will also be available on all the streaming platforms soon. I’m not sure quite when it will show up, as I’m at the mercy of my distributor’s delivery schedule, but hopefully we won’t be waiting long!
WATCH HERE all day tomorrow, from 10-6pm Central (11-7 Eastern, 9-5 Mtn, 8-4 Pacific, 3-11pm GMT) This Flash Telethon hosted by the Correllians will feature not just me, but also Byron Ballard, Krista Chapman Green, and more! All proceeds benefit Mother Grove Goddess Temple in Asheville, NC, to support their work helping the WNC community to clean up, endure, and rebuild.
I’ve submitted my online Halloween show from 2021, which I’m still very proud of. I’m not sure right now what time that portion of the telethon will air, but I can tell you that whenever you have an opportunity to tune in, something cool will be going on.
SPOILERS: that online Halloween concert, which includes a storytelling performance with my songs interspersed, is a clue for something I plan to release on Halloween. Make sure you’ve followed me on Bandcamp so you’ll know when this spooky surprise drops.
My friend and neighbor Krista Chapman Green has written a new song, “The Raven and the Wren”, which is masterful and deep, and she’s released it in support of Helene relief. Please check it out. She’ll be sending funds from the sale of the song to Mother Grove, also.
I may be collaborating on a single, and possibly an entire album, of Mercedes Lackey’s lyrics about her Valdemar books, with my buddy Ben Dobyns as composer, as early as next week! Ben and I had a business meeting over the phone about it yesterday, during which they confessed to me that they’d been writing music for these lyrics (with Mercedes Lackey’s enthusiastic blessing) with my voice in their head the whole time. I’m trying not to hang my heart on it since the campaign hasn’t yet reached that first development goal, but Ben’s praise and enthusiasm, plus the fact that Mercedes Lackey fans have already asked for the songs, AND that Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon are all in…it’s all the encouragement a person could ask for. Ben, whose work you may know from the multimedia Strowlers universe & Zombie Orpheus Entertainment projects, helped me film my “Neptune” video AND directed my parody “D&D” music video for the DVD of The Gamers: the Dorkness Rising in 2010. I’ve never had anything but beautiful experiences working with them.
My next in-person show will be October 5 at Nashville Pagan Pride Day! Let me know if you plan to be there. Nashville PPD was one of the very first events to hire me to perform back during my first years on the road, so I’m honored to return! More info: https://www.nashvillepaganprideday.net/
Hi, everyone! ICYMI, I got to be a guest on Alexian’s relatively new YouTube interview show this past Sunday, and we had a ball: click here to check it out. Alexian’s a long-time friend of mine; please consider subscribing to his channel while you’re there!
Have I mentioned before that I have a fabulous nineteen-year-old godchild who’s also a musician? Not only that, but she’s been chosen as an at-large delegate for the DNC this year, and that happened before recent roller-coastery events went down, too! Thing is, she needs a little bit of a financial boost to get there from Missouri. Please consider donating to Béla if you’re able. She’s the reason I know about Hazbin Hotel (yes, since nobody asked, of course I’m obsessed) after all, as if she wasn’t awesome enough already.
Offering these USB drives for the first time ever has been super affirming! The first 100 are nearly gone, and so I have already restocked! They’ve been so well received, beyond all my expectations, and I’m so grateful!
I’ll sign each one that finds a home whether it’s at a show or an online order. Anybody who’d like to have their digital media and hug it too, this is for you! 2.5gb of music spanning 20+ years or songwriting: over 10 albums, over 20 singles, stuff only previously available at live shows that I’ve never released digitally before, and some unreleased goodies too, because I can! Get one here.
Portrait art by Cora Ocean – please look her up on Instagram and follow her! She’s brilliant! I got to design these myself, and I love how they turned out. Cora’s art absolutely makes the whole thing work.
^As far as I know, you can plug them into any standard USB port and access the various mp3 files- that includes a USB port in the console of your car, if your car is equipped with one of those! Let me know?
Last thing for now is a health update (it’s all positive) plus an online show announcement. I’m ten out of sixteen days through followup treatment for my recent oncology adventure, and I’m feeling strong. (1 in 8 of us deal with breast cancer nowadays, according to the statistics I have seen. Please take care of yourselves as much as possible, everyone. This will not be the last time I mention it. I’m still here and still healthy because a loved one noticed a change, told me, and asked me to please get myself checked. Also, my med team have all been amazing throughout this whole experience- yes, it is possible.)
I look forward to celebrating completion of treatment in just a little while, on August 15th. One month from that date, I’ll give my next Online Concert Thing show, a matinée with my beloved poet sister Kat Heatherington! We’ll be making tickets available for that very soon, and I hope you’ll be able to join us. We’ve named the show Haunted by Honeysuckle, which is a line from a poem in her new collection, A Map Without Your Shadow! We’re concocting a shared setlist of completely new and unreleased works from both of us, so please mark your calendars and join us if you can. If you do miss it, not to worry. We will make the video available for purchase afterwards, and all paid Patrons of all tiers on my Patreon will get access to the video of the whole show in October. Join anytime over there if you like, and you’ll be helping me continue to fund and create new music.
“Haunted by honeysuckle” also ties in pretty nicely with my new tattoo, don’t you think? My tattoo artist is lunarbodyart on Instagram; please consider following her. She’s absolutely lovely.
Fam! I’ve got TWO free concert events this coming weekend, one in IL and one in MO! Feeling strong, and I can’t wait. I’ll be sharing both of these with Ginger Doss & Summer Osborne, along with other amazing folx. Also, I just updated the full tour schedule so you can see everything I have planned for the summer that’s confirmed: sjtucker.com/tour
Poet Kat Heatherington and I are also scheming to share another online show this August! More details on that as soon as we’ve nailed down the details.
In the meantime, please let me know if I’ll be seeing you at PRIDE in Vandalia this Saturday, OR St. Louis Pagan Picnic on Sunday the 2nd!
I’d love it if y’all would keep me in your thoughts on the morning of June 5th. I’ll be showing up at 8am Central for my first and only lumpectomy. So mote that, and f*** Cancer. One and done and never again is my wish, if you’d like to throw in on the healing magic with me. Thank you.
Later this month I’ll be back in Missouri for two shows: with Ginger for Faery Fest at Cozmic Bunny Meadows in Willow Springs June 22nd weekend, and Belle MO at The Warehouse with Meren King and our brother Mr. E on Monday, June 24!
We had some wild storms this past week, and so I may be sharing cleanup and community support info for Northwest Arkansas as news unfolds. For now, please consider supporting our jeweler sister, Bone Church Jewelry, whose water heater failed as a result of tornado damage- she’s having a 30% off sale right now: www.bonechurchjewelry.com
Hi, beloveds! Firstly, I hope you’ll join my Muses and me on Saturday evening! We’ll be FULLY LIVE for the first half of our Online Concert Thing show at 7pm CDT, and ALL FOUR MUSES are gonna participate after all! This will be the first time we’ll stream all the way live on our beloved indie platform, Online Concert Thing. After that, we’ll hang out in the chat with y’all for a replay of our November 2023 online show from the road.
(And yes, more cameos from Lynda’s pupper Toto are highly likely!)
OTHER SHOWS COMING UP: yall. Please please do not miss MoxieFest next Tuesday! Watch on Twitch or FB Live. I’ll be performing along with many other magical creatures, including our adorable Muppetty-moppet moth host herself, Moxie!
Ginger Doss and I have a two-week shared tour next month, with shows in Memphis, Asheville, and just outside Gatlinburg! Memphis was my hometown twenty years ago and the place my full-time music career began. So I’m thrilled that it’ll be our first stop on May 8! LET’S PACK THE HOUSE and celebrate Ginger’s new Sacred Flow EP!
After Memphis, we’re off to NC for a GLORIOUS REUNION with our witchy fam at Asheville Raven & Crone May 11, AND our song sis AMY FREAKIN’ STEINBERG May 12!
After our two Asheville shows, we’ll head for beloved Pagan land in Cosby, TN to perform for the May Moon Magick festival. Registration is closed for May Moon Magick: The Story….which means the event site will be at capacity for the first time in many years! AND THAT IS AMAZING NEWS.
Home again after May Moon, for a show right in my neighborhood, Hidden Acres Farm’s Harmony in the Hollow Pagan & Pride Festival!
If you’d like a lovely graphic to help you remember all these marvelous things and more, I gotchoo. BEHOLD.
If you’ve read this far, THANK YOU. I know it’s a lot. But it’s a joy for me to have so much to tell you. More shows than I’ve been able to consecutively crow about in ages. If I know yall, and I do, you’re celebrating with me. Thank you for that, too. Remember, my $10 and $20 Patrons get new, sekrit content every month, and ALL my Patrons get show videos as often as I can capture them…so if you’ve got it in your budget, come on in.
Hi, fam! I won’t be going to CauldronFest this weekend after all, so I’m posting to let you know. There’s a possibility I’ll get to stream a live online show instead; stay tuned! Meanwhile, I have to tell you that Pagan Unity Fest this past weekend was like coming home. PUF is a festival that has welcomed me with open arms as a performer since my very first years on the road. It was an honor to be there again with community, and I’m so grateful. I love my job, I love my band mates (Lynda couldn’t join us because she was under the weather, but we did our best without her anyway), and I loved our PUF crowd. Closing the show with “Come Down”, “Beetz in my Salad”, and “Firebird’s Child” back to back felt like the perfect rebirth that it was.
I have a good handful of concerts & appearances this month, one online, and all the rest in Tennessee! Here they are:
APRIL 11-14, HENDERSON, TN: MUSES ON THE ROAD AT PAGAN UNITY FEST 2024!
Puf was one of the first festivals ever to hire me as a performer, just about twenty years ago, and to keep asking me back! I can’t wait. More info: https://www.paganunityfest.org/tickets
APRIL 18-21, SPENCER, TN: SOOJ WITH THE WITCH’S GARDEN COLLECTIVE AT CAULDRONFEST 2024!
I can count on one hand the times I’ve gone to a festival just to be there, so when The Witch’s Garden invited me to come along to CauldronFest this year, I said yes! I might only be performing a tiny bit with Ginger & Lynda during their Saturday night show, and singing for fun at the Witch’s Garden booth. Come hang out, shop the merch booth, and have fun! Entertainment for CauldronFest 2024: RAW, Primal Rhythm, and Ginger Doss & Lynda Millard! More info: https://cauldronfest.org/cf2024/
APRIL 23, MEMPHIS, TN: SOOJ’S BOOK SIGNING AND FANCY TEA FOR RABBIT’S SONG AT THE BROOM CLOSET, 7PM!
552 S. Main, donations welcome! Come hear me perform “Rabbit’s Song” and get your own copy of the book signed! Many thanks to The Broom Closet for hosting; costumes encouraged!
MoxieFest is a multimedia music event hosted by the one and only Moxie Buttercup, cyberspace magicologist and correspondent for KateNyxTV! It’s all the wild whimsy of a May Day music festival, without the parking hassles, bug bites, or greasy fair food. [Unless that’s what you’re into, in which case…go for it!] Featuring performances from Rorie Kelly, GooJour, S. J. Tucker, and Roxie and the Rockettes! Celebrate the Spring in the Place That Isn’t a Place. It’s time for the Coziest Concert in Cyberspace! Thanks to the remarkable Kate Nyx (and Moxie) for inviting me! https://www.katenyx.com/
Lots more concerts from May through October are already confirmed, and I intend to keep adding others as they solidify! All the info is here: https://sjtucker.com/tour
Or listen on Bandcamp if you like: https://sjtucker.bandcamp.com/album/haphazard and grab that “name your price” (including FREE) download any time if you don’t already have it, or get it for a friend.
The Youtube playlist features the original (first printing) cover of my first release, Haphazard, of which there were only 1000 copies- if you’ve got one, you’ve been with me a long time. Nitia Cheveallier’s Medusa Sooj album art for all the successive print runs is my favorite of the two, but I’m proud of the young woman I was in this photo cover, you better believe it. I’m proud of every note on that thing, not least because my recording engineer at Young Ave Sound in Memphis, who was very kind in spite of himself, quipped at one point TO MY FACE, “it’s not like we’re recording an ALBUM here.”
Watch me. And then watch me keep going.
Hopefully I can find time to go live and sing some of these tracks across social media as the weekend unfolds, so we can stretch this celebration out! Keep your eyes and ears open.
Thanks for all your support & love, everybody. I feel it. It gets me through more things than I could name in a timely fashion.
Your bard, S. J.
ps–lotta shows coming up for the rest of this year, more and more confirming all the time.
Hi, everyone! I had some schedule changes this month, and more new shows opening up for the spring and summer. Here’s what’s coming up between now and the end of March!
March 16 & 17: FREE EVENT
Misfits Market Expo in Jackson, TN
Look for me on the first floor with The Witch’s Garden collective both Saturday and Sunday! I’ll be singing intermittently, selling my merch, and helping my coven buddies peddle their witchy wares!
VENUE: Carl Perkins Civic Center, 400 S Highland Ave, 38301
HOURS: 10am-7pm March 16, 10am-5pm March 17.
I was originally scheduled to sing at an event in Lenoir City, TN that weekend, but the organizers made the call to postpone due to a number of factors. Let me know if you’ll be in Jackson!
March 23:
S. J. (Sooj Foxclaw) Performs on Second Life!
The Forest of Hours
Heterocera
2pm SLT
More details soon! Feel free to connect with me if you’re on SL in the meantime!
I’ve got some really fun things planned for April, May, June, and July, with a few still pending confirmation. Keep an eye on sjtucker.com/tour/ for all the concerts as they form up, but I’ll definitely be back in Tennessee next month, and in TN, AR, and NC during May!
No small number of you are supporting me on Patreon! I’m so grateful. For anyone else who’s interested in being part of that marvelous mini-world of early listens to new music, you can pledge for $1 and up when you’re ready.
Some sad news and mutual aid ops:
Bandmate Lynda’s granddaughter Rae died last Saturday. She was 20 years old. We are devastated. Help the family here if you’re able: https://gofund.me/92ec2843
Help Shauna Aura Knight and her household move someplace safer:
