The Gentle Good is the stage-name of Cardiff-born songwriter Gareth Bonello. Gareth draws on the language, poetry and melodies of his native Wales to create beautiful modern folk music in both English and Welsh.

Gareth was taught cello and piano in his youth and taught himself guitar. His intricate playing style has drawn comparisons to the great guitarists of the 1960s folk revival, many of whom were a direct and profound influence from an early age.

The Gentle Good has 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.

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. In 2009 Gareth was chosen alongside some of Wales’ best traditional musicians to perform at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC. Since then he has performed all over the world, from car parks and bars in Austin, Texas to quayside shows at Festival Interceltique de Lorient, to solo performances at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.

His 2013 release and first for Bubblewrap Collective, Y Bardd Anfarwol, was an album themed on the life of the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai that was, again, nominated for the Welsh Music Prize. It went on to win Welsh Language Album of the Year at the 2015 National Eisteddfod.

In 2016 Gareth released Ruins / Adfeilion, to ever-expanding ripples of critical acclaim. The album won the Welsh Music Prize in 2017 and was followed by a companion EP, Y Gwyfyn, released on CD and vinyl for Dydd Miwsig Cymru in February 2017.

In 2023 Gareth returned with Galargan, a record steeped in traditional lament and contemporary folk textures, further cementing his reputation as one of Wales’ most distinctive musical voices.

Most recently, in 2025, The Gentle Good released Elan – a psychedelic folk album inspired by the landscapes, history and cultural heritage of the Cwm Elan (Elan Valley) in Powys. Written during a year-long residency in an off-grid cottage in the Cambrian Mountains and recorded in Cardiff Frank Naughton, the album combines Gareth’s delicate songwriting with global influences, including a collaboration with Rajasthani folk pioneers SAZ on the track Desert of Wales. Elan has been praised as one of his finest works to date, a richly layered and emotionally resonant record that bridges Welsh tradition with a broader, international folk sound.