Recently discovered tapes of Cornish singing star Brenda Wootton performing with John the Fish nearly 50 years ago have come to light, and have now been produced as a new CD. The duo were singing at the then newly-formed Pipers Folk Club at St Buryan Village Hall in 1966-67 - a club Brenda had formed in just 2 weeks, following the announcement of the imminent closure of the now legendary Count House Folk Music Club on the cliffs at Botallack. 

This CD, ‘Brenda at Buryan’ was made possible when the owner of the recordings, Mike Gluyas, approached me outside the Victoria Inn at Four Lanes on Christmas Day 2008.

“We had gone – as we often did with Brenda years ago – to listen to the Four Lanes Choir singing carols outside the pub at lunchtime. Mike told me of his tapes, which he had recorded all those years ago and stored safely ever since, and very kindly offered to give them to me, with permission to turn them into a CD. I was living in North Wales at the time, and it has only become possible recently, with our move back home to St Just this summer, to turn this dream into a reality. 

The quality of these vintage live recordings is astonishing – Brenda’s voice sounds pure and clear, and you can really hear the atmosphere in the club – everyone is just loving it. As far as I’m aware, this is the only published recording ever made while the club was at St Buryan, so it’s a real treasure trove. Brenda performs 16 tracks in all, in her own inimitable style, and 7 of these songs have never been recorded elsewhere, so it’s very exciting to hear them again after all this time."
 
The lyrics are printed in full under this title in the Discography section of this site.