ABOUT
The Holy Fools combine deep traditional roots with cosmopolitan sensibilities to craft a distinctive brand of Americana. The Fools feature original songs by Tennessee singer-songwriter Chris Floyd, drawn from his days in the hills and valleys back home and various sojourns around the world, from Mississippi to Moscow. The music is driven by the power and range of lead guitarist and arranger Harry Brzezinski, joined by an array of top players, including renowned bassist Al Parker, slide master Andy Tibbetts, drummer Andy Peters and others in a rotating cast of configurations. From the full-bore, five-on-the-floor line-up to deluxe trio and duo sets. the Holy Fools offer up an ever-moveable feast of musical adventure.
THE HOLY FOOLS
CHRIS FLOYD, vocals, rhythm guitar
HARRY BRZEZINSKI, lead guitar
AL PARKER, bass
ANDY TIBBETTS, guitar
ANDY PETERS, drums
BEGINNINGS
The Holy Fools began in Oxford with American expat Chris Floyd and longtime UK music veteran Jim Driscoll playing Floyd’s songs in pubs and clubs around Oxford in 2017 or so. Jim found a local bassist, Jason Neil, to join in with his unique percussive stand-up bass. A few gigs later, Harry Brzezinski, a guitarist and dobro master who’d been gigging with bands across the UK since the 1960s, saw the Fools out one night and asked if he could sit in with them. By cosmic coincidence, it turned out that Chris and Harry had briefly worked on some songs years before – and with this synchronicity, the full-on Holy Fools was born. Jim suggested the name, which sorted well with Chris’s studies in Russian culture and his years living in Moscow in the 1990s: in Russian history, a “holy fool” was a character duly licensed by church doctrine and ancient tradition to speak the truth and raise hell without fear or favour.
The Fools began gigging regularly – all across Oxfordshire, down in London, over to Devon. Their debut album, “Testament,” was recorded in 2019 by Nick Moorbath, mastered by Tim Turan, released in 2020 and featured on the BBC ... just before Covid hit and shut down live gigging for almost two years. On the very day the last lockdown was lifted, with the landscape still uncertain and most venues still closed, a pair of Holy Fools – Chris and Harry – became one of the very first acts in the UK to play to a live audience again.
The original Fools line-up rolled on until 2024, when Jason moved on. Oxford impresario Nigel Brown joined on bass, then founding Fool Jim set off on his canal boat for new adventures. Since then, the Fools have carried on around the core of Chris and Harry, sometimes as an acoustic duo, sometimes as a trio and sometimes exploding into a five-fold electric band with renowned bassist Al Parker, slide guitarist Andy Tibbetts and Andy Peters on drums.