After more than 15 years enjoying the comforts of home as a member of the band Cowboy Celtic, Denise Withnell is taking the time to taste the roses.
The Turner Valley guitar player and vocalist is not looking to leave her Cowboy Celtic roots. Especially since the group’s front man and primary songwriter, David Wilkie, is also her husband.
Cowboy Celtic has long been praised for delivering on what the name promises, the blending of North American old west style music with the traditional folk sounds of Scotland and Ireland. Being a part of Cowboy Celtic has been a great ride for Withnell, but over the years she has developed a desire to stretch her wings artistically and try something different.
The result is “Rose Petal Pie” Withnell’s first solo album. In support of the disc she will be playing a 7:30 p.m. show June 4, at Rotary Performing Arts Centre in Okotoks as part of the “A Room Full of Sound” concert series.
Withnell will be performing many songs from “Rose Petal Pie” an album the artist described as a labour of love.
“This is a fun thing for me,” Withnell said. “I’ve wanted to do my own CD for a while now. It’s something very different. It’s neither cowboy or Celtic.”
What the performer has put together is a release featuring a wide range of styles from western swing and jazz to full on torch songs as evidenced by the French language track Pas De Chance En Amour (no luck in love).
While “Rose Petal Pie” is an expression of Withnell’s personal musical desires she revealed it also became a creative outlet for Wilkie.
“David wrote five of the songs on the CD,” she said. “He is such a great songwriter. There’s stuff he’s written here we’d never put on a Cowboy Celtic CD.”
Withnell said one particular track on the CD demonstrates Wilkie’s ability to pull inspiration for a song from almost anywhere. It came from some eavesdropping he did on the streets of New Orleans.
“It was the day after Valentine’s Day,” she said. “David overheard these two girls talking about what their boyfriends gave them for Valentine’s Day. One of them said, ‘My boyfriend gave me a rose petal pie.’”
Wilkie seized on the phrase “Rose Petal Pie”, a real dessert made from sliced strawberries and rose water, and developed it into a cool jazz style expression of a man’s desire to woo his ladylove.
With such a sophisticated collection of songs on her album Withnell has recruited an impressive collection of musicians to help bring them to the stage. Playing with her Saturday will be a pair of musicians from Edmonton and as well as a trio from San Jose, California.
Withnell said having these three particular Americans on stage with her for shows this week was important because they also performed on the recording.
“The reason I am bringing them up here is they played on my CD when I was recording it,” she said. “One of them, the guitar player, was the main producer of the album. His name is Scott Sorkin. They’ve all become friends of mine. They’re great folks really great musicians and they know my stuff.”
Withnell’s Cowboy Celtic band mate, Willkie, will also be sitting in with his mandolin for a couple of tunes in both local shows.
Withnell will be performing at 7:30 p.m. on June 4, at Rotary Performing Arts Centre in Okotoks and June 3 at Carlson’s on Macleod in High River.
For information on where to get tickets or to order them online go to the artist’s web site www.denisewithnell.com
