The Lord of the Rings: You’ve probably seen the films. You may have read the books. But, unless you were quick off the mark, you won’t have listened to Dave Brons’ musical interpretation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic story. The first instalment of his Celtic prog rock trilogy was only released on Friday just ahead of an online launch party. It’s called, The Fellowship.

Crotchety Man had been looking forward to this album for some time. The overlap of folk and prog is always interesting and often exhilarating. And, if you are not averse to a bit of shredding with your folk, no-one does it better than Dave Brons. The CD is on order, and it was lovely to join Dave and the band for the launch.

The Fellowship is a 15-track album containing over an hour of music. It is DB’s fifth album, and to emphasise that it has been even more of a team effort this time, the band has been given its own name, BRØNS. Dave Brons is the guitarist and main composer, but there are also essential contributions from Sally Minnear¹ (vocals), Daniel Day (bass guitar, acoustic guitar, flute, Irish whistle, vocals, piano), John Biglands (drums, vocals, acoustic guitar, piano) and Mark Swift (‘hard’ piano). Then there are Uilleann pipes by Troy Donockley and Catherine Ashcroft, piano passages by Neil Patton and Dave Bainbridge, some violin from Matt Steady, a brass ensemble and a 6-voice choir. This was never a purely solo endeavour.

The new album is the culmination of two years of hard work. Dave and two or three of the band members have been all over the north of England and the borders of Scotland making some spectacular promotional videos. They chose out of the way scenic places, often on the tops of mountains, and often in inclement weather. They truly suffered for their art.

Watching them at the launch party felt like being welcomed into the family. It seems to me that BRØNS is not so much a band, it’s more of a Fellowship of like-minded musicians. They have already been on quite a journey and there is much more to come.

1. Sally is the daughter of Gentle Giant‘s Kerry Minnear. ↩︎