Monday, April 17, 2017

The Greenock Telegraph

 As it appeared in The Greenock Telegraph Tues April 11th.
GREENOCK-BORN Carl
Peterson has been a professional singer and musician on the other side of the Atlantic since the 1960s.
Now 73, the former pupil of Mearns Street School and Greenock High School left the town for a new
life in Canada on May 21, 1961. He was a member of several groups and performed on records
that hit the Canadian top 20. Subsequently becoming a solo artiste, Carl went on to become one
of the best known performers at Scottish festivals in Canada and America.
He has made more than 25 records and has appeared on television on many occasions.
His son Devin and daughter Kirstin have performed with him.
Carl has just written a book entitled ‘Ewan Colin Coupar and a Touch of the Fae’
which combines fact, fantasy and folklore. Ewan is a young boy in the immediate years following the
Second World War and almost all of the tale is set in the Greenock area.
Explaining why he wrote the book, Carl said: “I’m not sure I can come up with any one good reason
or who I was writing for but I’ll try. Some of the story includes things and incidents and people from my distant past as a child that I turned into fiction.But I think the reason is that I started dreaming a series of dreams while I was living and working in Montreal during the 1970s.
I had no one age group I was writing for, nothing like that in mind. Just whoever wanted to read
a good wee fantasy tale.”Carl had written down the content of his dreams, but his busy performing schedule meant it would be many years later before he decided to produce a book.He said: “It took me about 10
years to write and finished it by the end of 2016." The story is a fascinating trip into the world of ‘Faeries’ or mystical beings, made the more interesting because of its local setting. The young Ewan lives at 12 Trafalgar Street which is where Carl was brought up and, as the writer did, he attends Mearns Street School.The many other places mentioned include the Cut, Whitelees Moor (where the book cover’s photograph was taken),the Granny Kempock Stone, the Foresters’ Hall and the West Station.
‘Ewan Colin Coupar and a Touch of the Fae’ by Carl R Peterson is available in Kindle and paperback
form from Amazon.
Carl left Canada in 1982 and now lives in Pennsylvania in the United States.
Still in demand as a performer,Carl was back in his hometown last June to visit his sister Heather and
her family.

No comments: