When Spock’s Beard founder members Neal Morse and Nick D’Virgilio revealed they were reuniting for a new project, no one could have imagined that Haken’s Ross Jennings would join them. D’Virgilio, Morse & Jennings discuss combining three-part harmonies with a hefty dose of blues, country and prog on Troika.

Words: Rich Wilson

Images: Chad Hoerner, Yulia Jennings and Chad Jenkins

Expectations and natural assumptions can be dangerous. The pairing of original Spock’s Beard members Neal Morse and Nick D’Virgilio instantly generates thoughts of spacious, frequently wacky progressive rock that recounts tales of Catfish Men. However, the duo recently linked up with Haken frontman Ross Jennings to record Troika, an album that relies more on tight vocal harmonies than expansive musical journeys. Harking back to the type of guitar-based rock created by Crosby, Stills & Nash, the LP may come as a revelation to some of their fanbase.

“I got a surprise email from Neal at the end of December 2020 asking me if I would be interested in becoming the third voice in the project,” says Jennings. “Although I’ve sung with Neal and met him on various Cruise To The Edges, his point of reference to me as a songwriter and musician was really just Haken and the prog metal side of things. He wasn’t aware if I had any interest in this sort of music, if I could write this sort of music, or if I could play guitar. It was a huge leap of faith on his part to even think of me for this. I was taken aback and confirmed to him that I’m a huge country music fan anyway and love three-part harmony vocals. I’d recently been working on a solo album [last year’s A Shadow Of My Future Self], which was more in that singer-songwriter vein and I was thrilled to be invited into this.”