A little over a year ago, in the middle of the pandemic, I chatted with Gerald Brann, who performs as Elton John in the Yellow Brick Road tribute band, about a performance his group had coming up on Nov. 20 at the Somerset Abbey in Madison. Fast forward a year and the opportunity arose to touch bases with this gifted pianist/vocalist once again, and I learned quite a bit more about what’s been happening over that span of time, and a little more depth about the quintet itself.

Q: I recently did an interview with Vinny Cormier, who performs as Ozzy Osbourne in the Crazy Train tribute act, and he said that the Elton John guy was very helpful in getting Cormier thinking about the best way to get into his role. Was that “guy” you, perchance?
Brann: Yeah, Vinny and I, I would consider to be friends. I’ve known him from previous acts before his Ozzy Osbourne thing, I gave him a little advice. We talked about bookings and the general approach to trying to put on a tribute show, what we found to be an effective way of doing that. But I want to give him full credit for the creation of his act and character, he does a great job and I did nothing but encourage, I would say.

Q: He does a convincing impersonation, that’s for sure. Now, how long have you been doing your interpretation?
Brann: Well, let’s see. We’ve been doing the math on it and if we take into account from the conception of the idea, it’s been about 20 years this year, just about this time of year, too.

Q: I first chatted with you back in February of 2016 when you were heading into Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts on the 27th of that month. I didn’t ask you then but I will now: Did you have any idea back then where playing Elton John would take you?
Brann: No, not really. I mean, I had, strangely enough, performed in an Ozzy Osbourne tribute band in more of an auxiliary position just doing keys and singing some harmony. It was my first exposure to being in one of those acts. I was surprised how crazy and enthusiastic the crowds were and how consistently people were coming out to see it, so I got an idea of the concept of ‘the special act’ and though I had big ideas of what I’d like to do but I had no idea it was going to go as far as it has.

Q: How so?
Brann: It has really exceeded all expectations at this point. It’s been fantastic and we’re pretty lucky. In the last couple of years we’ve been traveling quite a bit. This year we’ve flown more than we’ve ever flown before, as, for instance, these last four shows were Virginia, which we flew to; Georgia, we flew to. We just drove to New Jersey and Pennsylvania this week. This next weekend we’re flying to Bonita Springs and Tarpon Springs in Florida, so we’re all over the place, we’ve gone out to Michigan, Illinois, Ohio; wherever they want us (laughter).

Q: Wow! So what’s the band breakdown as far as members go?
Brann: Well, we have five members and it’s still the same formula from when we started, and it seems to work well for us as far as putting on the type of show what we’re doing: the live concert kind of feel. We have Kevin Ostrowski on drums, Mark Kavanaugh on the bass, and then we have the two guitar players, Rich D’Aigle, he’s the newest member of the band, and Mike Tobias.

Q: Let’s talk a little bit about the visual aspects of your show, you have costume changes during the performance, right?
Brann: Absolutely, and I do as many as I can do, as many as the show will allow. Each place that hires us will have needs that they have: how long they’d like our sets to be and whether or not they want a break, or how many breaks, and things like that. So that’s going to dictate how many opportunities I have to be able to do costume changes. Generally, you’d see three or four different outfits, I have three from the 80s and three from the 70s, and a couple of others.

Q: That’s right, your show focuses mostly on the early years, like the 70s and the 80s.
Brann: Yes, in those years his singing range was much higher and the earlier stuff better matches what I’m capable of pulling off.

Q: Choosing those two decades to work with, it must be difficult to pare down the songs you want to perform, there’s such a huge catalogue of material to choose from.
Brann: Oh, that has been one of the larger challenges. There are so many hits that, when your average show is two one-hour sets or less, there’s no way you could play every single one. You just can’t do it so you’re always leaving a major hit out of your list.

Q: Just out of curiosity, how many songs do you guys have in the bag to pull from?
Brann: Ah, well, if we were to list all that we have performed before, we’re probably in the range of 40, give or take.

Q: Now you have played Somerset Abbey before, right? Like last year about this same time?
Brann: Oh, yes, I think we’ve been there two other times.

Q: Is there anything, Gerald, that you’d like me to pass on to the folks reading this article?
Brann: The thing that I want people to know, if they come out to see us, is that what they’re going to experience, because it will be an experience, it’s not just a sit-and-watch TV show-type of event, it’s a classic Elton John concert with everything that is involved. There’ll be crowd participation, dancing, singing, lots of energy, antics on stage and not your typical arrangements of the Elton John music that you would hear on the radio, we’re doing this like it’s a real concert. So, if you want to know what it was like to experience Elton John at his absolute concert peak, then come on out and see us, I think we’re going to have some fun.

Q: Is there anything we haven’t touched on that you think we should?
Brann: Well, I just want to make sure we cover the Somerset Abbey thing, if she does have a couple of tickets out there, I don’t want to deprive them of getting any last-minute sales or standing room or something like that. And we could drive home the fact that this is the last show of the year that we’ll be in Maine.

Lucky Clark, a 2018 “Keeping the Blues Alive” Award winner, has spent more than 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be emailed at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

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