ROAD was originally formed in the early 70's by Fred Lavery, (vocals &bass), Bruce Timmins, (guitar), and Charlie Lavery, (drums). The band evolved out of a combination friends who played together throughout high school in Little Brasd'or, Cape Breton.

   The band started out playing school dances, wedding receptions and later the bar scene at hot spots like Fred Tommy's in the Pier, The Heather in New Waterford, and The Blue Mist in Brasd'or. As a three piece rock trio the band covered all the popular tunes of the day.

   One of the trademarks of Road was the band's versatility and originality. As time passed some important new members were added to the original nucleus. In 1976 bass player Al Bennett was asked to join the band, this allowed Fred Lavery to move back to guitar his first instrument, and signaled a shift in focus of the material the band played. For the first time ROAD began performing songs written by Fred Lavery and with the further addition of Brendan Hall a steel guitar player, the band was complete.

   In 1978 Road recorded it's first single called "Song for Noel", written by Lavery. The song was an almost instant hit and remained at the top of the local radio charts for several months. University radio stations all over the province jumped on the single as well and ROAD was much in demand. Two more singles were recorded in successive years with Bruce Timmins writing instrumental guitar pieces for the B sides. The records were met with critical success but failure to sign a record deal and the departure of Brendan Hall and Charlie Lavery was a major " turn in the road".

   With the focus now on writing and performing original material the trio of Lavery, Bennett, and Timmins hit the road again as opening act and backup band for Cape Breton native John Allan Cameron, who had become one of Canada's most popular entertainers with his own national television show. Travelling all over Canada doing the folk festival circuit, soft seater concerts and opening for Ann Murray in the US gave the group a whole new audience. Performing on John Allan's " Freeborn Man " album lead the way to a record deal in 1980 for Fred Lavery, titled "First Impressions". Produced by Paul Mills and engineered by the now famous Daniel Lanois the recording was done at Grant Avenue Studios in Hamilton Ontario and included Bennett and Timmins with studio sidemen, Barry Keane, of Gordon Lightfoot's band, Ron Dan, steel guitar, of Ian Tyson, Pat Godfrey, keyboards, of Bruce Cockburn, and performances by the legendary Stan Rogers and John Allan. The band continued to perform throughout the early 80's with singles from the album making the national charts, but a rare vocal condition called spastic dysphonia ended Lavery's singing career just as he and ROAD were gaining a national audience.

   Discography:

     Singles

     1977 Song For Noel/The Minstrel (Road Music)

     1977 Blue Summer Dawn/End of a Daydream Road (Road Music)

     1979 Peace In Time/Lauronne [The Christening] (Road Music)

   Discography from Bill Wiggins

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