MUSICIANS Tony May and Keith Jones are probably two people who believe in fate more than anyone else.

If it were not for 40-year-old Tony being involved in a near-death crash with a lorry in France while on the brink of success with his group New Earth, he might never have met Keith.

As it happened though, Tony's injuries from the crash were so bad he had to give up playing with his band.

He said: "Things were going better than they'd ever gone so I didn't want to miss out because we had agents clammering after us.

"It was a difficult decision to make and I probably went into major depression for about two years. If I couldn't play guitar, I didn't want to do anything."

Tony eventually moved to Worcester in 2003 and bought Hill Top Farm in Cotheridge, to follow his other dream of running a farm, breeding rare breed pigs.

The musician, who also worked in a London recording studio alongside artists such as Sinead O'Connor, Aswad and Big Audio Dynamite, began playing again this summer after an agent heard one of his albums. He started gigging at the Wheatsheaf pub in Whitbourne, where he met violinist Keith, and they decided to form a duo going under the name Rare Breed.

Keith, who is from Worcestershire, has an equally colourful musical background, mostly steeped in the Birmingham folk scene. He has played in various bands, supporting Paul McCartney's Wings and Fairport Convention, and was invited by the landlord of the Wheatsheaf, a former technician for the latter group, to perform at the pub.

Between Tony and Keith's decision to work together and their first gig at a pub in Banbury, they had seven days to rehearse.

Keith said: "It was a great gig and it just feels right to promote it now."

Rare Breed are set to go out on the road again with their music, described as contemporary folk-rock with a fiddle and mandolin tinge, intermingled with covers of songs from bands such as Coldplay and REM.

They have already played a handful of low-key gigs and are set to play Broadwas Village Hall on Saturday, December 3, with their sights set on recording an album early next year.

Tony said: "Keith really liked my approach to songs and my style of writing and I think he's a fantastic violin player and pretty handy on the mandolin, so I suppose it has been a case of mutual respect for each other. Every time we've played together something magical has happened, so it's something we definitely want to pursue.