It’s a labour of love, it’s now all wrapped up and on May 28 it can be heard at Communitea Café in Canmore.
Mending Fences, a 12-track CD by Doon Wilkins, will be released after a year of contemplation, songwriting, recording – even sheep herding. Mark Staniforth will join Wilkins on bass.
The idea for Mending Fences originated when Wilkins penned some songs for Pine Tree Players’ staging of a play by the same name, by playwright Norm Foster.
Within the format of the play, Wilkins would wander the audience while singing and playing his guitar – with songs written in relation to what was happening in the play.
On the CD, half a dozen songs are from the play, while the other half relate to Wilkins’ love of Canmore, its history and people. For example, “Hey, are you there?” is about 90-year-old Richard Guy, who climbed Ha Ling to spread his wife’s ashes.
Another relates to the Canmore flood, for example, and simply Canmore as Wilkins’ home.
“It’s kind of ‘Doon Unplugged’,” said Wilkins. “The CD is with a full band, and for Communitea, Mark will join in. For the CD I tried to replicate the feel of the play, but with the other songs included, it became a life project as I started to write songs.
“You have opportunities to get it right and, although it took longer than I thought, I feel I got it right.”
Inspiration for songs other than those from the play also came while sitting by a river in B.C. and while looking after a friend’s farm in Nanton, where he also looked after the sheep.
“I’m also hoping to show some gratitude to Pine Tree Players,” he said. “They put faith in me to write the songs and that really helped pull the project along; it gave me a deadline for getting started. Pine Tree Players is such a great part of this community.
“I also spoke to Norm Foster about it and sent him the finished product, and he’s elated with it. A lot of people have been waiting for this, the play was a while ago, and it took a long to find musicians and record it. I’m very happy it’s now completed.”
Tickets will be available at the door and through Eventbrite.
