Greetings...
"Spring" by Mary Oliver
Somewhere a black bear has just risen from sleep and is staring
down the mountain. All night in the brisk and shallow restlessness of early spring I think of her, her four black fists flicking the gravel, her tongue like a red fire touching the grass, the cold water. There is only one question: how to love this world. I think of her rising like a black and leafy ledge to sharpen her claws against the silence of the trees. Whatever else my life is with its poems and its music and its glass cities, it is also this dazzling darkness coming down the mountain, breathing and tasting; all day I think of her— her white teeth, her wordlessness, her perfect love.
Upcoming Events:
CANADIAN ROCKIES SONGWRITING WORKSHOP
With STEVE GILLETTE
Come to the beautiful Rocky Mountains (Canmore, Alberta) for a songwriting experience you will not forget.
August 1- August 3, 2013
This two-day intensive workshop will cover a wide range of topics for all levels of songwriters.
Steve Gillette is the author of the book SONGWRITING AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS, published by The Sing Out Press. In this 200-page sourcebook there are many valuable insights on the work of songwriting. Steve has written detailed chapters on music theory, melody, harmony, rhythm, song critique, poetic principles, alliteration, titles, hooks, collaboration, creativity, writer's block, left brain and right brain, social issues, publishing, and surviving in the music industry.
For more information: http://www.coribrewster.com/songwriting.htm
Canmore’s Elevation Place is open and we are celebrating. Come to the community celebration on April 27, I will be performing with several students that I worked with on a songwriting project last year, we wrote a song called, “This is our Town” and we will be performing it during the celebration. As well I’ll be doing a short set with Steve Goodchild.
May 4th I’ll be performing with Steve Fisher for the PSAC Prairies Regional Women’s conference “telling our stories”, at the Banff Centre.
My friend Maueen Enns will be releasing her new book: Wild Horses, Wild Wolves: Legends at Risk at the Foot of the Canadian Rockies on June 20th at Masters Gallery in Calgary. I have written a song about the wild horses and the lyrics appear in Maureens book. I’ll be performing the song at Masters Gallery on June 20th.
Maureen speaking about her book: “My book is an exploration of the re-wilding of the equine species that takes place within a small geographically remote wilderness area within a two-hour drive from Calgary – an anomaly in Public Land Use Zones in Alberta. The horses I have studied for 6 years have reclaimed their wild DNA copying the behavior of deer to survive and formed uneasy relationships with the wolves. I define how my study animals truly represent part of Alberta’s heritage with tales of good blood-stock imported from England being released in the early 1900s and the ranching family that held it all together”.
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW FOR VIDEO'S
`Buffalo Street’ is a collection of beautiful stories inspired by the rich history of the Canadian Rockies and its people. Cori continues her commitment to the craft of songwriting and attention to detail that so effectively evokes a time, a sense of place, a character and of course a range of emotion.
What some reviewers have said about Buffalo Street
As a veteran and leading exponent of Canada’s storied folk heritage, Brewster’s mastery of the music’s many styles is unquestioned. Accomplished Canadian folk-country singer, Cori Brewster, returns with her fourth album, a wonderful collection of (mainly) self-penned songs inspired by her family and characters associated with them over the past hundred years or so in Banff. With an ear for a great melody and the storyteller’s insight for spinning a compelling yarn, Brewster puts both and more, on display with such compelling songs as My Familiar Sky, inspired by long-distance love letters written almost eighty years ago, or Diamond Hitch which explores the lives of the pioneers of the Canadian Rockies more than 140 years ago. With vocal inflections that sound clear-as-mountain-stream authentic, Brewster’s songs of love’s travails and the struggle to find meaning in hard times, really strike home on tunes such as Written In My Name, That Was Hell and the wonderful Take Me Back To Ireland a Celtic-tinged song yearning for Ireland and inspired by her great-great grandfather who moved to Canada during the Irish famine of the 1800s.Highly recommended." ****1/2 MAVERICK MAGAZINE-UK, Alan Cackett
Edmonton Journal-Roger Levesque"Buffalo Street is a fascinating set of historical portraits translated into song, by this gifted singer-songwriter...personalized with atmosphere, imagery and entertaining details".
CKUA-Bob Chelmick (Road Home)"When I heard 'Buffalo Street', I just felt like giving you the biggest hug for creating such a gorgeous collection of stories...you have found the fulfillment of your musical calling in these kind of moving character sketches... I love a good story, a great melody, and an artist who brings a passion to her work - and lets it live in her songs. That's why I feel so grateful for 'Buffalo Street''.
CFMU-Jim Marino"I will play all of it...I think it is (so far) the best of 09...what a gem, a winner from beginning to end".
See Magazine-Curtis Wright"With this release, Brewster joins a distinguished group of Albertan vocalists — people like the legendary Ian Tyson and that hurtin’ Albertan, Corb Lund — who share her affinity for storytelling and times gone by".
Herizon Magazine-Cindy Filipenko"Cori Brewster writes songs that capture the essence of a place better than most...Brewster has handily managed to turn these narratives into engaging folk songs.The musicianship on Buffalo Street is top notch..., Buffalo Street is an important one, as it represents folk music in the truest sense, recording history through lyric and melody, so that a culture’s important moments are not lost. Give this woman an Order of Canada for telling us about what Banff was before it became just another tourist Mecca".
