Walk Me to the Corner, a solo recording from late Canadian actor Brent Carver, has been released posthumously.
Produced by Carver himself and orchestrated by his longtime friend and arranger Jim Pirie, the album was recorded by award-winning engineer Gary Gray.
"Brent worked on this album off and on for a decade, from about 2008 to 2019,” says Gray in a statement. “He was always a perfectionist, but more so with this project. We would record a song and a few months later he would want to rerecord it. This wasn’t a small project. Brent lavished huge amounts of talent, time, and money on it. He was doing this his way, unrestricted by the conventions of the commercial music industry.
"Then, one day Brent passed away," Gray continues. "Suddenly I realized I was the custodian of this decades-long, very personal project. I had the recording masters, the sheet music, everything."
Gray contacted Carver’s sister in British Columbia, and with the help of some of Carver’s friends, she secured music rights and clearances, finally making Carver’s longtime project a reality.
The complete track listing follows:
"The Falling In Love With You Part” (Don and Jeff Breithaupt)
“I’ll Change” (Brent Carver/Laura Burton)
"When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin’ Along)” (Harry Woods)/"Great Expectations” (Eric Carmen)
“Running Out of Heroes” (Griffiths/Vickers)
“A Lover’s Concerto” (J.S. Bach/D. Randell and S. Linzer)
“Don’t Let Me See You Cry” (Void Un Ami Pleura, Jacques Brel)
“Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” (Ray Evans/Jay Livingston)
“Changing the Guards” (A.A. Milne)/"When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich” (lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, music by Burton Lane)
“My Land” (Min Vlakke Land, Jacques Brell)
“Si Les Bateaux—If All the Ships” (Vent Qui Vire Editios: Gilles Vigneault)
“The World Is Changing” (Leslie Arden)
“The Man Who Wrote Danny Boy” (Joe Jackson)
Carver, a Tony-winning Broadway veteran whose credits include star turns in Parade and Kiss of the Spider Woman, died August 4, 2020; he was 68 years old. Read his obituary here.
Walk Me to the Corner is available online at Mirvish.com/shop and at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.