Singing from experience
Angela Brown releases CD showcasing lifelong love for music
Angela Brown has been writing songs and performing them since she was a kid.
It may not be her bread and butter these days, but it is certainly still a crucial mainstay of her well-being.
The native of the Burin Peninsula grew up and still lives in the Corner Brook area. She made a name for herself as a talented young performer when she played with her father, Reg Brown, in the popular traditional Newfoundland group Driftwood and Friends in the late 1980s and early ’90s. She continued on performing weekend gigs in a number of cover bands through the years.
One constant was her passion for creating her own music.
Now, Brown has finally recorded a CD of some of those songs. The 10 tracks found on “Come Back Home” span the last 20 years of her life and chronicle her experiences from being a young girl trying to find her way in the world to growing into a woman with her own family and outlook on life as a practising naturopath.
Producer Dave Fitzpatrick convinced her last fall that she needed to record her material.
She agreed the time was right to document just how much music has meant to her life.
The songs cover a wide range of genres, from country to rock and folk — all styles she has delved into during her musical experiences.
“It defines you as a person and brings you into your own,” she said of her music and recording it. “It gave me a better sense of who I am.”
Her daughter Sabella sings on one of the tracks, “My Old Guitar” and that means the world to her.
Brown takes pride in the aboriginal bloodlines running through her family.
Although her father’s ancestry is traced back to the Algonquin people, she regularly takes part in Mi’kmaq powwow events in Newfoundland, including the one in Conne River last week.
One of the songs on her new CD, “Enough,” is dedicated to the frustrations many have felt over the controversial Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band enrolment process.
She said it’s a powerful song of accepting who you are on your own terms, regardless of what they are.
“You’ve got to make the decision and be happy for the most part, but that doesn’t mean to stop fighting for what you deserve,” she said.
A CD release launch is planned for Swirsky’s in Corner Brook from 8-11 p.m. tonight.