Photo: By Bryan Marks [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The group was first formed by Bryan Josh on vocals and guitars, Heidi Widdop on vocals, Iain Jennings on keyboards, Liam Davison on guitars, Alun Hughes on bass, Bob Faulds on violin, Kev Gibbons on whistles, and Chris Walton on drums. Like all bands that have continued performing over a long period of time, the band Mostly Autumn have gone through numerous lineup changes.
The band Mostly Autumn released their first album in 1998 entitled For All We Shared… The following year in 1999, Mostly Autumn released their sophomore album The Spirit of Autumn Past. The band has continued to release albums on very consistent basis throughout the 2000’s and 2010’s. In 2001 they released the spectacular album The Last Bright Light followed by Music Inspired by The Lord of the Rings the same year. The Passengers album was released in 2003 followed by Storms Over Still Water in 2005, Heart Full of Sky in 2006, Glass Shadows in 2008, Go Well Diamond Heart in 2010, The Ghost Moon Orchestra in 2012, Dressed in Voices in 2014 and their most recent album Sight of Day in 2017. Along with their twelve studio albums, the band has released a combination of sixteen live CDs and DVD’s. There is also three compilation albums entitled Heroes Never Die – The Anthology, Catch the Spirit – The Complete Anthology and Pass the Clock.
All the band’s albums have been released independently and financed by the band themselves. While we have no idea how well the band has done economically and frankly its none of our business, we are impressed by how the band has continued to release amazing Progressive Rock records as an independent band an garner a large following. Without record company interference, the band has obviously been free to explore true artistic freedom which is so well-defined in their music. Their sound is obviously inspired by bands like Yes, Genesis and Renaissance, but there is also a brilliant air of originality to their music and performances. Bands like Mostly Autumn add much-needed fuel to the argument against the notion that there is nothing new out there. All it takes is one listen to any of their songs and you will be asking the question “how have I never heard of this band before?”
The band’s current lineup in 2018 as of this writing consists of Bryan Josh on vocals, guitars, keyboards, Iain Jennings on keyboards, backing vocals, Angela Gordon on flutes, keyboards, recorders, whistles, percussion, backing vocals, Andy Smith on bass, Olivia Sparnenn on vocals, percussion, Chris Johnson on rhythm & acoustic guitars, keyboards, vocals and Alex Cromarty on drums. Sadly longtime member Liam Davison passed away in 2917.
Below are some choice selections from the band Mostly Autumn. We hope these videos inspire you to go check the band out and start collecting their great Progressive Rock CD’s.
