Karen Burton

Biography

A Point On The Map

Karen Burton: singer, songwriter, author, journalist and latest of all - playwright of the current ABC radio series "Fruit of our Labour" is a diverse performer and talent who is essentially a storyteller. The ABC radio series chronicles the travels and experiences of Karen and David as they work their way across Australia in a number of diverse jobs - but always with gentle humour and keen observation.

The genesis of "Fruit of our Labour" was the CD "A Point On The Map" of which the title song can be heard at the introduction of each episode. The CD features songs about the proud apricot trees plucked from the earth "Fruit of our Labour", the freedom of the country in "Twelve Mile Creek", the mighty River Murray "Easy Water", the aboriginal dreaming of "Thousands of Years" and the poignantly beautiful "A Point On The Map" which concludes each episode of the series.

Karen Burton served her musical apprenticeship in the folk clubs of her native England. As a child she learned to play piano and flute before picking up a guitar at the age of 15. She soon began writing songs, and was performing them at folk clubs around the country by the time she went to university.

It was at this time that she entered and won her first songwriting competition, appearing in a BBC broadcast concert as part of the prize. Karen continued to perform at venues around the UK while working as a journalist in the northwest.

But it wasn't until she left England for Australia in 1995 that her music career really took off. Freed from the constraints of a 9 to 5 job, Karen took her unique brand of 'musical storytelling' all over Australia.

For the last few years she has been captivating audiences in Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, and has appeared at a huge array of folk festivals, from the rainforest canopied event at Palm Creek in tropical North Queensland, to the major international festivals of The National Folk Festival, Canberra and Port Fairy Folk Festival. She has recently visited her homeland to perform the music from the album at numerous festivals and folk clubs throughout the UK. Karen and David now reside and work in NSW.

Fans of travelling songwriter Karen Burton fall into two main categories. The first, like Keith Hancock, believes that her greatest asset is her uniqueness, the fact that Karen sounds like no-one, but herself. Then there's another set of admirers who see parallels with some of the greatest songwriters of the last few decades. Whichever your point of view, all are agreed that this contemporary singer possesses an outstanding voice - rich, subtle, powerful, and well worth listening to.

Karen's debut CD "A Point On The Map" has received excellent reviews and airplay in Australia for its subtlety, maturity and contribution to original, contemporary Australian folk music.

Buy the CD

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