Performer Name: The Gentle Good

Show Name: The Gentle Good

Show Description

The Gentle Good is the stage-name of Welsh songwriter Gareth Bonello. Gareth draws on the language, poetry and melodies of his native country to create beautiful modern folk music in both English and Welsh. As a performer Gareth is well-travelled and versatile, most often performing as a soloist but sometimes seen with a full band and string quartet. A skilled guitarist, Gareth’s intricate playing has prompted many to draw comparisons to the great guitar pickers of the 1960s UK folk revival. In 2009 Gareth was chosen alongside some of Wales’ best traditional musicians to perform at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC. Since then Gareth has performed all over the world, from car parks and bars in Austin, Texas to quayside shows in Lorient, to solo performances at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. The Gentle Good have released several critically acclaimed records, all of which feature the essential twin influences of fiddle player and composer Seb Goldfinch and producer Llion Robertson. In 2011 Gareth and Seb collaborated with the Mavron String Quartet as well as Welsh folk sirens Cate Le Bon and Lisa Jên Brown to write and record Tethered for the storm. The album received widespread critical praise and was nominated for the inaugural Welsh Music Prize. Later that year Gareth was awarded the Composer of the Year Award at BBC Radio Cymru’s RAP awards.

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The Gentle Good is the moniker of Cardiff-based musician and songwriter Gareth Bonello. Known for his enchanting melodies, intricate guitar style and beautiful acoustic arrangements, Gareth writes in both English and Welsh and is one of the foremost songwriters on the Welsh music scene. The Gentle Good’s previous work has attracted widespread critical acclaim, having previously won both the Album of the Year award at the National Eisteddfod and the Welsh Music Prize. His 2023 release Galargan, a stripped-back exploration of Welsh folk song garnered a rare 5* review in the Guardian newspaper and was listed in the top 5 folk albums of 2023. The Gentle Good’s new album ‘Elan’ is a psychedelic portrait of the Elan Valley in Powys, Wales. It was written during a year-long residency in the Cambrian Mountains and explores the landscape, history and politics of the valley, which was flooded at the end of the Victorian era to create a series of reservoirs for drinking water. The album features a full band, synths and strings and draws on folk-rock, psych and pop influences to invoke the dramatic landscapes of Elan. A captivating soloist, Gareth has performed all over the world, from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. In recent years he has become a highly regarded musical collaborator, having worked extensively with artists from China and India. His award winning album Y Bardd Anfarwol (2013) broke new ground with its unique combination of Welsh-language storyteling and Chinese traditional music. He is a founder member of the acclaimed Khasi-Cymru Collective, a collaboration with artists from the Khasi communities indigenous to Northeast India.