Mick Jagger Surprises Oxford Pub With Impromptu Folk Song Performance

The Rolling Stones frontman joined a weekly folk session at a Half Moon pub after dinner at Oriel College, with almost no one in the crowd recognizing him.

Mick Jagger turned up unannounced at an English pub folk session in Oxford on June 7, performing the Appalachian standard Handsome Molly to a crowd that barely registered who was singing. Jagger was in town with partner Melanie Hamrick as a guest of Oriel College, and the impromptu set came after dinner and drinks in the college’s Senior Common Room, with Rolling Stones keyboard player Matt Clifford and Oriel Politics academic Robert Cheah joining in.

How the Night Unfolded

According to Oriel College, a small group moved from the Senior Common Room to a nearby pub after the evening’s formal proceedings, where Jagger joined an ongoing weekly folk music session. The college confirmed the details to the BBC, describing the performance as impromptu.

An audience member who spoke to The Sun captured the low-key atmosphere: ‘We were sitting right by the band when a small group wandered over towards the musicians. I caught a glimpse of one of them from the side and said to my mates, Wait… is that Mick Jagger?’ The witness added that someone hopped onto the piano before Jagger began singing, and noted that ‘almost nobody seemed to realise it was him. There were no crowds and you could really tell just how much fun Mick was having.’

The Song: Handsome Molly and Its Deep Roots

Jagger’s choice of material was Handsome Molly, a folk standard with a documented history stretching back more than a century. The song was first recorded by Appalachian musicians G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter in 1927, though folk song collector Cecil Sharp had already documented it as early as 1918. Jagger has a personal connection to the tune: he recorded it for his 1993 solo album Wandering Spirit.

The selection fits a pattern Jagger has maintained throughout his career of engaging seriously with American roots music, a thread that runs through the Stones’ catalog from their earliest blues covers to later country and folk-inflected recordings.

Foreign Tongues on the Horizon

The Oxford pub appearance comes as the Rolling Stones prepare to release their 25th studio album, Foreign Tongues, on July 10 via Polydor/Universal Music. The record was produced by Andrew Watt, who also helmed 2023’s Hackney Diamonds, and was recorded in under one month at Metropolis Studios in west London.

Watt has described the new album as rawer than its predecessor. ‘It’s rawer and liver and jammier and, wait till you hear the shit Keith’s playing. It’s unbelievable,’ he told The Telegraph. He also said of working with the band: ‘Really, it’s the most fun thing in the world. There’s never a single day that I’d go into the studio and not be like, I’m going to see the fucking Rolling Stones play!’

Jagger offered his own take in a press statement: ‘I love doing these recording sessions in London at Metropolis. It was a very intense few weeks recording Foreign Tongues. We had 14 great tracks and we went as fast as we could. I like the room there as it’s not too big so you can feel the passion in the room from everyone.’

Foreign Tongues will feature guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Robert Smith of The Cure, and Steve Winwood, among others.

What we know

• Mick Jagger performed at an Oxford pub folk session on June 7, after attending dinner at Oriel College with partner Melanie Hamrick.
• Rolling Stones keyboard player Matt Clifford and Oriel Politics academic Robert Cheah also participated in the performance.
• Jagger sang Handsome Molly, a song first recorded by G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter in 1927 and documented by Cecil Sharp in 1918.
• Jagger previously recorded Handsome Molly on his 1993 solo album Wandering Spirit.
• The Rolling Stones’ 25th studio album, Foreign Tongues, is set for release on July 10 via Polydor/Universal Music.
• Foreign Tongues was recorded in less than one month at Metropolis Studios in west London and features guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Robert Smith, and Steve Winwood.
• Producer Andrew Watt described Foreign Tongues as rawer than Hackney Diamonds, which he also produced.

The take

Jagger’s Oxford pub session is the kind of moment that reminds you where the Rolling Stones actually came from. Long before stadium tours and corporate sponsorships, the band’s entire identity was built on absorbing American roots music, specifically the blues and folk traditions that British musicians of the early 1960s treated almost as sacred texts. Handsome Molly sits squarely in that lineage: an Appalachian ballad that traveled through the folk revival and into rock and roll’s bloodstream. The fact that Jagger recorded it for Wandering Spirit in 1993 shows this is genuine affinity, not a one-off novelty.

The timing is also worth noting. With Foreign Tongues arriving July 10 and producer Andrew Watt talking up its rawer, jammier feel compared to Hackney Diamonds, an unannounced pub performance is about as effective a piece of pre-release mood-setting as the band could engineer, whether intentional or not. Hackney Diamonds was widely praised for sounding like a band reconnecting with its instincts rather than chasing contemporary production trends. If Watt’s description of Foreign Tongues holds up, the Oxford evening looks less like a random detour and more like a natural extension of where the Stones are creatively right now. For a band in its sixth decade, that kind of unguarded, low-stakes playing is increasingly rare and, for longtime fans, genuinely encouraging.

Why it matters

For Classic Rock fans, a Mick Jagger pub session carries weight beyond the novelty. It signals that at 81, Jagger is still engaging with music on its most fundamental level, not just as a performer fulfilling obligations but as someone who picks up a microphone in a half-empty room because the song is there. With Foreign Tongues weeks away and the band’s creative momentum apparently intact under Andrew Watt’s production, the Oxford moment reinforces the case that the Rolling Stones remain an active, curious band rather than a legacy act running on fumes.

What’s next

The Rolling Stones’ 25th studio album, Foreign Tongues, is scheduled for release on July 10 via Polydor/Universal Music. The record features guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Robert Smith of The Cure, and Steve Winwood, and was produced by Andrew Watt.

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