Brenda Wootton

Recorded in John Knight's studio on the Lizard, it was produced by DiskAZ in France in 1985, with musicians Chris Newman, John Knight, the Ray Roberts Trio and Camborne Town Band - amongst others; one unusual credit is for The Woottontots, which was a multi-track recording of Brenda, harmonising with herself five times. The title, in French, means '"B" as in Brenda' - as all the tracks have a French-themed alternate title beginning with B - Burlesque, Ballade, Boeuf, etc... All the lyrics are printed on the inner sleeve in both English and French; the cover photos were taken by John Knight..

Brenda Wootton and Dave Penhale. Boy Jan Cornishman, one of Brenda's best albums, in my view. Produced by Burlington Records of Hitchin in Hertfordshire in 1980, with guitarist Dave Penhale and the legendary songwriter Richard Gendall (10 of the 13 songs on the album were written by Richard). The front cover has a photo for every track in a checkerboard: I am bottom left, and my son Davy is bottom right!

Some newly published material and some old seasonal favourites, brought out in 2018.. This compilation of previously published tracks, together with additional archive material recently discovered on old private recordings, we hope will give you a flavour of Brenda’s enjoyment of music at Christmas, one of her favourite times of the year. These are vintage recordings, many available for the first time on CD, and Mic has done sterling work to bring them up to suitable quality.

Brenda's first album with guitarist Dave Penhale, and the first with Transatlantic, Carillon came out in 1979. Produced by Nigel Pegrum for Plant Life Productions, all the songs were written by friends of Brenda's, including Richard Gendall, Ewen Carruthers, John Bidwell and Mike Silver. The cover photo was taken at Newlyn Harbour, and the back cover shot was taken in the 'parlour' of Willy Warren's pub, The Radjel, at Pendeen - Willie is pictured in a photo on the wall behind Brenda. (A promo single is sometimes seen, featuring the tracks 'Apple Wine' and 'Silver Net' - Transatlantic BIG568).

A nostalgic single produced by RCA France for the Christmas market in 1983. Two beautiful old Cornish carols, one a much-loved Thomas Merritt, the other traditional. Brenda was accompanied by Camborne Town Band and Mousehole Male Voice Choir. This is a 45rpm single with a paper cover - the cover photo, with Brenda and my sons Davy and Jan, taken in the Engine Inn at Nancledra near Penzance.. was taken in mid-summer with a hastily erected Christmas tree and a blazing fire - hence the reason my boys are looking a bit pink! (All in good condition (uses one of those 3-pronged detachable centre holes, which is provided.)

An album exploring the Cornish language, with Brenda's mentor, Cornish language expert Richard Gendall, who went on to write over 400 songs for Brenda, many in Kernewek - later Cornoack. Crowdy Crawn is taken from the Cornish 'croder croghan', a skin sieve that was hung by the fire and held small treasures or keepsakes. Confusingly, it was later adopted by Brenda and guitarist Robert Bartlett as their stage name.

​'Everybody Knows' is a Maxi Single, with two 45rpm tracks on an LP sized album. It was produced by Editions23 in France in 1987 as a special promotion for a global charity initiative called Walk Across the World - the title of the track on Side 2. This song, amazingly, hit the number 1 slot in the Japanese pop charts! Brenda also sang 'Walk Across the World' at the London launch of the charity event at the World Travel Fair in Olympia, in front of Princess Diana, to whom she was introduced on stage - but apparently in 1985, two years before the date on the record. A mystery! The music for both tracks was written by the famous French composer Francis Lai, but unusually again, the track on Side 1, Everybody Knows, had lyrics written by Brenda herself - and a fine job she made of it. It's a lovely track, and worth getting for that alone.

So many of the songs written for Brenda by Richard Gendall were about boats, the sea and fishing, and the fishing industry is such an important one in Cornwall, that Brenda decided to produce an album exclusively with 'Cornish Songs of the Sea'.  By this time she had sung with many Cornish choirs and bands, and her great friends in Four Lanes Male Voice Choir feature on this album, together with Richard Gendall and Dave Penhale. The cover photo is Newlyn artist, Stanhope Forbes' famous painting, 'Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach'.

NOW AVAILABLE!!

Brenda Wootton with guitarist Dave Penhale. Lyonesse was the first album produced in France by RCA - it has a wonderfully eclectic mix of material, from songs by Richard Gendall, blues numbers, popular standards and a Beatles number. The cover photo is taken at Land's End in Cornwall.

Brenda's first album as a professional singer was produced in 1974, with guitarist Robert Bartlett. Performing as a duo, they took their stage name from Brenda's previous album with Richard Gendall, Crowdy Crawn, and began with a tour of France. The lyrics are printed on the inner sleeve.

The first of Brenda's Sentinel Records albums... Brenda was very particular about the photo on the front... the kitchen belonged to Mrs Hitchens of Trewarveneth Street in Newlyn, who had the necessary Cornish range; the china dog on the mantelpiece, the cut glass pedestal sugar bowl, the teapot and patchwork tea cosy, the little Goss pot - all were carefully selected. A special copy of the Cornishman with the larger, all-text format, had to be found, as it had recently changed to a tabloid form - and, of course, the home-made pasty had to be just right... Other musicians who contributed included Stythians Silver Band, Mike Sagar, Steve Hall, John Sleep.

'Seagull' was the last record Brenda recorded - and it was never properly released, as Brenda had a stroke before the final mixing was complete. All the tracks were laid down, however, in John Knight's recording studio on the Lizard - but as Brenda was not able to do the full promotion tours that would have normally happened, her French agent just rushed out the album in its almost-finished state. Brenda had planned for it to be named Sailing Gulls, and as always went to great trouble to include lyrics, and to design the sleeve to ensure all musicians, photographers, engineers etc were acknowledged. Sadly none of that happened, and the album was not distributed. I only have a couple of copies myself.

A lovely audio cassette, recorded at a special concert staged to raise funds for the SIDS Charity (Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths - now the Lullaby Trust), and held at the Penventon Hotel, Redruth in the late 1980s. In 1983, John the Fish and his wife Carrie sadly lost their son Merrick John at the age of 4 months in a 'cot death'. Happily they were later to have two beautiful daughters, Hannah and Tabitha, both of whom were present at the Penventon for this memorable reunion concert with Brenda and Fish. The material performed represented a real 'blast from the past' for those who remember the early years of the Count House and Pipers Folk Club. Carrie became a key worker for SIDS and has worked tirelessly for the charity ever since, until her retirement in recent years. The cassette was produced by Chris Blount of Chough Tapes and Radio Cornwall.

Tamar is a compilation album with selected tracks from earlier LPs, produced in 1986 in France by DiskAZ, with producer John Knight from the Lizard (who also took the back sleeve photo). Featured musicians and accompanists are Chris Newman, Dave Penhale and Four Lanes Male Voice Choir.

Featuring Brenda with Robert Bartlett, Richard Gendall, 'Way Down to Lamorna' is a compilation of favourite tracks from Brenda's earlier Cornish Sentinel albums. Produced in 1984, the album includes tracks from SENS 1006, 1016, 1021, 1031 & 1036.