Sir David Attenborough and Folk Singer Richard Grainger pay tribute to Yorkshire's famous son.
English folk singer and songwriter , Richard Grainger is to publish his own tribute to James Cook later this month.
His new CD- the Folk Opera ‘Eye of the Wind’ ( KCD002) tells the tale of Cook’s first voyage of discovery on board ‘Endeavour’ with all the drama, sounds of the sea, songs, shanties , extracts from Cooks Logs, Poetry and a narrative spoken by non other than Sir David Attenborough.
‘We were fortunate to attract Sir David. Obviously he is a major figure and somebody of considerable popularity and professionalism’. RG
The new CD features, not only Richard Grainger in fine form leading the music, but an array of folk talent including former Teesside Fettler Ron Angel and the versatile duo, John and Joy Rennie. Also featured are the ‘Endeavour Shantymen’ ( founded by Grainger in 1997) and Olivia Rennie, who is a particularly fine didgeridoo player. Cris Yelland (Lecturer in English at the University of Teesside) is a powerful interpreter of Graingers poetical works.
The CD was produced by Richard Grainger and Ken Snowdon at BBC Radio Cleveland studios during October of 2003. It is accompanied by a 16 page full colour booklet with song lyrics and the entire narrative. Cook expert Doug Worton supplied much of the original authoritative text.
Middlesbrough based graphic designers ‘Bombshell’ have done a great job in layout and design while some finishing touches were made to the CD by Lorne Street Studio.'I am delighted that we have been able to display such an array of talent from Teesside- proving that we are on the cutting edge of this business – a few years ago we would have had an album like this produced in London’ RG
Klondike Records has generously agreed to donate £1 to The Captain Cook Trust from the proceeds of each album sold.
A must not only for folk fans but anyone interested in James Cook or simply a good tale, well told….