Review Text
A tribute to Carl's hometown. Made up of songs about Greenock, and songs written by Greenockians, this album captures the spirit and pride of the people of Greenock and the people of Scotland. Over the last 20 plus years Carl Peterson has undeniably become the most successful and busiest Scottish singer in North America, performing at numerous festivals and concerts, and creating nearly 30 recordings. He was the first singer/entertainer to appear in most of the east coast Scottish festivals, opening up a market for many singers and musicians. Carl was born and raised in Greenock, Scotland, on the banks of the River Clyde, where a great shipbuilding industry flourished for hundreds of years. In the 1800's, many Irish came to these lowland shipyards looking for work, joining the throngs of Scottish Highlanders who had been chased from their hills and glens. Seafaring men from other nations as well, joined the ranks in the Clyde Valley shipyards. One of these adventurers, a Swedish sailor, married a highland lass in Port Glasgow - they were Carl's great-grandparents. Thus, Carl was born four generations hence, a Nordic Scot, with Swedes on one side and Highlanders on the other; an ancestry sprinkled with surnames such as McLean, McBryde, Caithness, Duke, and somewhere an Irish McGuire. Before coming to the United States in 1983 Carl had already left a legacy in Canada where he was a member of two highly successful groups. The first was The Patmacs, from 1964-1965, a quartet of folk musicians singing songs of Scotland, Ireland, England and USA with a smattering of calypso thrown in. This group performed on, and produced, singer Johnnie Forrest's first two record albums for the Don Messer Jubilee show, one of Canada's top national TV shows. Carl was offered a spot on the show but declined for a chance at a different kind of music. At the beginning of the British invasion in 1965 Carl was talked into 'going rock' by long time friend Ron McLachlan who had newly arrived from Scotland. They were joined by another Scot, Alan Cramsie, and two Canadians to form The King Beezz. This group would go on to set trends in Canada with 4 hit songs, tours across the country and performances on many of the top pop shows nationally. Although they were based in Canada they were considered part of the British Invasion. Following the break up of The King Beezz Carl turned his attention to folk once again, reforming The Patmacs this time with two lovely young ladies from Edmonton, an Irishman, an Englishman and another Scot. After a few short months of performing at live shows and TV appearances they were signed by Capitol Records of Canada and almost immediately embarked on a 2 year tour that took them clear across Canada with live performances and national TV shows. The group was also offered a permanent spot on another popular national TV show, All Around the Circle, from St. John's, Newfoundland but declined in favor of continued touring. There two websites document some of the history of both Patmacs groups and The King Beezz: patmacs.com and kingbeezz.com. After the breakup of the 2nd edition of The Patmacs Carl went solo and settled in Montreal where he released 2 solo LPs. While in Montreal he spent two very successful years with fellow Scot Gordon Lee. They regularly 'packed them in' for months at The Irish Lancer and for two years at The St James Pub. Eventually Carl turned his attention south to America. It didn't take him long to find success in the festival market. In 1994 he was signed by Community Concerts of New York. Apart from averaging about 40 festivals a year, Carl was handling between 50-70 concerts a year from Maine to Hawaii. After five years with Community Concerts Carl spent two seasons with Allied Concerts from Wisconsin, performing mostly in the upper midwest states. The only two states Carl hasn't performed in are Rhode Island and Alaska. He has performed in every province in Canada except PEI. One of Carl's favorite festiva
