FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2006		 Contact: Steve Winick

Jennifer Cutting's OCEAN: Songs for the Night Sea Journey Garners International Distribution Deal With Witchwood Media

JENNIFER CUTTING, leader of the Celtic folk-rock band Ocean Orchestra, founder of the SunSign record label and production company, and auteur-producer of the award winning CD OCEAN: Songs for the Night Sea Journey, announced today that she has signed an international distribution deal with Witchwood Media.  The deal covers the distribution of the OCEAN album in the UK and Ireland , with a non-exclusive option for Japan .

The Witchwood deal grows from Cutting’s admiration for British folk-rock and art-rock music, and the band that best blends these styles, The Strawbs.  Witchwood is operated by Strawbs founder and frontman Dave Cousins.  Artists on the boutique label include The Strawbs (in both their acoustic and electric incarnations), prog-rock icon Rick Wakeman, and Conny Conrad, one of Germany 's most successful producers. 

For Cutting, being recognized as a major artist by Cousins and The Strawbs is a career milestone.  “I’m one of the first non Strawbs-related artists to be distributed by Witchwood, along with the Watersons, another group I truly admire,” she explained.  “With OCEAN, I was really trying to blend progressive rock, folk and a classical sensibility that’s very much in the Strawbs tradition.  Signing this deal, it feels like a torch is being passed, that Dave is signaling that I’m the next generation in the Strawbs lineage.  It’s tremendously exciting, and a great honor for me.”

Cutting was also thrilled to have her album distributed in the UK and Ireland , whose traditional music was the inspiration for much of the material on OCEAN.  Cutting’s two grandfathers, one from England and the other from Ireland , were the inspiration for her natural synthesis of British and Irish musical traditions. Her English grandfather, Ernest Cutting, was a conductor and talent scout for NBC in the 1930s.  Following in his footsteps, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in orchestral and choral conducting.  Her passion for English folk music was developed through her association with British folk revival leader A.L.  Lloyd.  In the early 1980s she became Lloyd's last and youngest protégée, soaking up the same blend of scholarship and joy in performance that he had also imparted to members of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.  After returning to the U.S. , Cutting spent more than ten years as director, composer, arranger and performer with The New St. George, one of the most significant British folk-rock groups on this side of the Atlantic .  More recently, she has been exploring the area of Celtic folk-rock and incorporating bagpipes into her music.  “After all the years I’ve been playing this kind of music,” she said, “it’s wonderful to know that audiences will be able to buy my record in Britain and Ireland.”

Dave Cousins, speaking from his headquarters in Kent , England , congratulated Cutting and expressed his own delight to be working with her.  “From the moment I saw Jennifer on stage at the Birchmere in Alexandria , Virginia , I was captivated by her music,” he recalled.  “One song, “Forgiveness”, mesmerized me to the extent that I could think of nothing else other than having the privilege of distributing her record in the UK .”

The creation of “Forgiveness,” the song that convinced Cousins to distribute Cutting’s music, embodies a long series of dreams-come-true for Cutting, culminating in the Witchwood deal.  In 1996, the great songwriters Hal Ketchum, Tom Paxton, and Steve Seskin awarded the song First Prize at the prestigious Merle Watson Memorial Song Contest.  In 1999, Steeleye Span vocalist Maddy Prior and Fairport Convention Drummer Dave Mattacks agreed to participate in the first studio recording of the song, at England ’s famed Chipping Norton studios.  In 2002, Steeleye Span’s label Park records released the song on the compilation Women in Folk, and in 2004 Cutting included it on her own CD.

“Forgiveness” is not the whole story, however.  OCEAN: Songs for the Night Sea Journey is a remarkable success story, and a testament to Cutting’s tenacity, talent and drive.  Recording the OCEAN album one track at a time over a period of more than seven years, Cutting was able to work with some of the greatest names in folk and rock music on both sides of the Atlantic, including Maddy Prior and Peter Knight (Steeleye Span), Dave Mattacks (Fairport Convention), Tony Cuffe (Ossian), John Jennings (Mary Chapin Carpenter), Polly Bolton (Albion Dance Band), Gabriel Yacoub (Malicorne), Zan McLeod (Touchstone), Sue Richards (Ensemble Galilei), Troy Donockley (Iona) and Grace Griffith (Connemara), in addition to former bandmates from The New St. George, Rico Petruccelli and Lisa Moscatiello.  She worked with this diverse pool of talent to create a collage of sea-inspired pieces exploring the rich symbolism of water and its themes of transition, transformation, and “The Hero’s Journey.”  A composer, producer and arranger of exacting standards, Cutting labored over every track, in the studio and at the mixing console, making sure it was exactly as she wanted it.

In 2004, all that work paid off.  Cutting swept the 19th annual Washington Area Music Awards, (the “WAMMIES”), winning five Wammies for OCEAN: Songs for the Night Sea Journey, including Album of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, New Artist of the Year, Musician of the Year, and Best Contemporary Folk Recording.  In addition to these awards, the album has won other distinctions and honors, including:

  • CD of the week (April 30, 2005) on Rich Warren’s nationally syndicated radio show The Midnight Special. 
  • Interview segments on NPR Affiliates during top-rated shows All Things Considered and Morning Edition
  • Three months running on the New Age Reporter top 20 Airplay Charts.
  • Top 30 CDs of 2004 from Greg Cummins of Prog-rock portal Sea of Tranquility .

Cousins is not surprised by the album’s success, and looks forward to making it available in the UK and Ireland .  "Jennifer is a major talent who deserves the widest exposure,” he concluded.  “I look forward to working with her in 2006 and beyond.”

Witchwood Records Official Site 

Jennifer Cutting's email:

 

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