Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog are a Welsh folk band consisting of three brothers from Rhos Botwnnog, between the villages of

Botwnnog Botwnnog is a village and community in Gwynedd in Wales, located on the Llŷn Peninsula west-northwest of Abersoch. It is in the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It had a population of 955 in 2001, increasing to 996 at the 2011 Census. The ...

and Llaniestyn on the Llyn Peninsula,

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

, Wales, and accompanying musicians and singers. They experiment with

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

and rock music. Most of their lyrics are in

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

Career

The three brothers, Iwan, Aled and Dafydd Hughes, formed the band in 2006 and got a fair amount of attention from the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

music scene through an early appearance on

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

's music programme ''

Bandit Banditry is a type of organized crime committed by outlaws typically involving the threat or use of violence. A person who engages in banditry is known as a bandit and primarily commits crimes such as extortion, robbery, kidnapping, and murder, e ...

''.

BBC Radio Cymru BBC Radio Cymru is a Welsh language radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts across Wales on FM, DAB, digital TV and BBC Sounds. The station broadcasts general factual and entertainment pro ...

's C2 programme slot also regularly aired demos that the band had recorded. By the time they had released their debut album, ''Dawns Y Trychfilod'' ("Dance of the Insects") on the Sbrigyn Ymborth label in 2007, they had already developed a good following and were regularly appearing on stage with some of Wales's best known acts. The album was produced by Dyl Mei and recorded at the producer's now-closed Blaen y Cae studio. The band launched the album with a headlining tour throughout Wales. The album stayed at the number 1 slot for numerous weeks on the C2 chart. In 2008, the band worked to create a different sound, deciding to concentrate more on the

aspect of their music. They co-worked with singer-songwriter

Gwyneth Glyn Gwyneth Glyn (born Gwyneth Glyn Evans, 14 December 1979) is a Welsh language poet and musician. Biography Gwyneth Glyn was born in St David's Hospital in Bangor, Gwynedd, and grew up at her family home in Llanarmon. She was educated at Ysgol ...

and pedal steel player Euron "Jos" Jones and released the single "Paid a Deud", also on the Sbrigyn Ymborth label. The title track is a re-working of a traditional Welsh folk song. Summer 2009 saw Llyr Pari of labelmates Jen Jeniro join the band as an additional live guitarist, and played at their biggest summer appearances at the Wakestock festival and Maes B at the

Eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...

. 2010 was a quieter year for the band in terms of live performances as they concentrated on writing new material. Over the summer a version of

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

's ''

Cortez the Killer "Cortez the Killer" is a song by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young from his 1975 album, ''Zuma (Neil Young & Crazy Horse album), Zuma''. It was recorded with the band Crazy Horse (band), Crazy Horse. It has since been ranked No. 39 on ...

'' crept into the set. The band played the opening Sunday of the Royal Welsh's Young People's Village and the final Saturday of the

National Eisteddfod The National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competito ...

's Maes B. The band were subject to a profile in North Wales and Liverpool's '' Daily Post'' newspaper in September 2010, in which Ian Hughes described the band as producing "a sound so independent and divorced from music lazily being made by a lot of other new groups".Hughes, Ian (17 September 2010
"Music profile: Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog"
''Daily Post'' (North Wales). Retrieved 5 October 2017. The band entered Bryn Derwen studio with producer and engineer Dave Wrench in September 2010. Once again Branwen "Sbrings" Williams, who had provided backing vocals on ''Dawns y Trychfilod'', and Euron "Jos" Jones were in tow, as well as Llyr Pari, who had regularly been playing live with the brothers. The resulting album, ''Dyddiau Du, Dyddiau Gwyn'', was released in December of that year and garnered widespread acclaim and airplay. In 2011 the band had two new songs featured in the ''Y Record Goch'' compilation, released by new label Recordiau Lliwgar. They continued to perform regularly, including a slot at the

Green Man Festival The Green Man Festival is an independent music, science and arts festival held annually in mid-August in the Brecon Beacons, Wales. Green Man has evolved into a 25,000 capacity week long event, showcasing predominantly live music (in particular ...

and, for the first time, shows outside Wales. Third album ''Draw Dros y Mynydd'' was released in summer 2012 and was shortlisted for the

Welsh Music Prize The Welsh Music Prize is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from Wales, as voted for by members of the music industry based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. It was founded by music promoter John Rostro ...

2012. In 2013 the band continued to tour widely, and appeared with new material on the S4C music series '' Y Stiwdio Gefn''. A new song, ''Tyrd Olau Gwyn'', appeared in the 9-track ''O'r Nyth'' compilation, released by Welsh label Nyth in December. Their 2024 album ''Mynd â’r tŷ am dro'' won the Welsh Language Album of the Year award at the National Eisteddfod.

Members

*Iwan Glyn Hughes – vocals, electric & acoustic guitar, keyboards, harmonica, banjo, bass guitar *Dafydd Rhys Hughes – vocals, drums & percussion *Aled Wyn Hughes – vocals, bass guitar, electric & acoustic guitar, vocoder, cosmic banjo *Llyr "Tonto" Pari – electric guitar, bass guitar *Branwen "Sbrings" Williams – vocals, organ *Euron "Jos" Jones – pedal steel guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar *Osian Huw Williams – vocals, electric guitar, bass guitar, percussion

Discography

Albums

*''Dawns y Trychfilod'' (Sbrigyn Ymborth) – 2007 *''Dyddiau Du, Dyddiau Gwyn'' (Sbrigyn Ymborth) – 2010 (Wales) / 2011 (UK) *''Draw Dros y Mynydd'' (Sbrigyn Ymborth) – 2012 *''IV'' (Sbrigyn Ymborth) – 2016 *''Yn Fyw! Galeri Caernarfon'' (Sbrigyn Ymborth) – 2023 *''Mynd â’r tŷ am dro'' (Sbrigyn Ymborth) – 2024

Singles

*"Paid a Deud" with

(Sbrigyn Ymborth) – 2008 *"Clawdd Eithin / Adenydd" (Sbrigyn Ymborth) - 2023 *"Trosol" (Sbrigyn Ymborth) - 2024

EPs

*''Y Cledrau'' with Karen Owen (BBC Sesiwn Unnos) – 2011 * ''Y Record Goch'' (10" vinyl & download) – compilation EP with Y Bwgan, Sen Segur and Dau Cefn (Recordiau Lliwgar) – 2011

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Welsh folk musicians Welsh-language bands Welsh-speaking musicians Welsh country music groups People from Botwnnog