Brenda Wootton
new CD...'All of Me'
Back in April 2010, I wrote about the tapes that we had discovered of
a previously unheard concert at Bobino in Paris in 1984. Brenda Wootton
headlined a tour accompanied by Camborne Town Band and her trio of musicians
and during the tour, had one of the concerts recorded.
Click for an explanation of
the background to what has become the next chapter in this extraordinary
tale. Initially, we had no idea if there would be any feedback and thought
this information would be an interesting piece of copy to fill up a page
on my website. The response was truly amazing. The story was picked up
by Radio Cornwall and BBC Spotlight and all the local press. Several
of the reporters had known Brenda at various levels from seeing her performances
in folk clubs and experiencing how she could hold an audience in the
palm of her hand, to helping sort through requests on her Sunday Best
radio show. Most remarkable are the replies I've received from not only
across the UK but from around the world from mostly Cornish diaspora.
Brenda has recorded many albums during
her career from endearing Cornish folk music with John the Fish
at Sentinel records in Newlyn in the late '60s, to several titles with
her accomplished guitarists, with whom she toured Europe, Japan and Australia.
In the 80's, she was a household name in France and was signed with RCA,
this is when she and John, my husband had a close working relationship
when she recorded a number of albums at our recording studio in Cornwall.
Brenda had never recorded a live concert, which is surprising in itself
because of all her many talents Brenda was a performer; she liked the
perfect result of studio work but most of all, she adored the response
of a live audience, and did she know how to cajole an audience! She could
tease, caress, make you laugh and make you cry... I'm yet to build up
any resistance to the words of 'Silver Nets' - listen and you will find
out why!
We asked ourselves several questions;
had Brenda passed away too long ago for her to have a lingering memory
in peoples' minds? Is her music actually relevant today? How does one
'sell' any musical work when the artiste isn't with us to promote it?
The answers were all positive and we made the decision to produce a CD
from the tapes. Sometimes there are challenges that you have to take
onboard and this was one of them; not to make it available seemed to
be letting Brenda down! After months of work repairing, digitising, editing
the tape for reproduction, researching the background to Brenda's life
and career and producing a sixteen page inlay booklet, we will be ready
for release, all being well, on 1st November.
We chose the title, 'All of Me', because
the music is quintessentially everything that was Brenda. There are many
reasons that this set of songs is so magical; yes, it's nostalgic, but
principally it has the anticipation and ambience of being live, it is
a fine artiste at the peak of her career weaving her magic in three
languages, English, French and Cornish, it is a metaphorical final performance
of La Grande Cornouaillaise - The Great Cornishwoman.
Sample tracks from the CD and background information
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