Bryher’s Boys

Bryher’s Boys was formed back in 2017 when the tenor and bass sections of several West Cornwall choirs were press ganged to form a new crew especially designed to navigate the choppy waters of sea shanty singing! Although firmly rooted in the male vocal tradition, their trademark style of free harmony ensures that no two performances sound exactly the same. Named after bandleader Trevor Brookes’ youngest daughter, Bryher, the Boys do not hail from the Scillies themselves, but are based firmly in West Cornwall, spread out from Newlyn to Truro.

Their collective love of the established folk repertoire, both Nautical and Cornish, proved an immediate hit with local audiences, with over 200 performances clocked up to date in venues as diverse as weddings, private parties, crowded pubs, community fundraisers (particularly for the RNLI), large scale concerts – even afloat aboard the RFA Lyme Bay!

The group are particularly proud to have been selected to represent the whole of Cornwall in the summer of 2019, at Brittany’s Festival Interceltique, taking their unique mix of traditional Cornish songs, shanties and shaggy dog stories to a new audience of over 800,000 attendees and singing to 9,000 people at a time! It topped a busy year which also saw the release of their 1st CD, The Ballad of the Boy Jacq. Lockdown didn’t stop the Boys performing virtually via a series of Lockdown Videos which have entertained over tens of thousands of viewers across the world.

Bryher’s Boys’ music has reached a national audience of millions, being featured in two episodes of the hit TV series “Rick Stein’s Cornwall” and they were involved in the 2021 G7 Summit activity, being asked to compose and perform a “G7 Shanty” for Reuters News Agency, singing it live on the BBC National and Worldwide News Channel, which boasts an audience of over 70 Million!

In August 2022, Bryher’s Boys spent a week representing Cornwall in the Isle of Man, courtesy of the Celtic Gathering festival there – https://ynchruinnaght.com/about-2/

Bryher’s Boys are kindly sponsored by Falmouth’s National Maritime Museum.