TALENTED actor and singer Gerda Stevenson, perhaps best known for her movie role in Scottish blockbuster Braveheart, is promoting a new album in the Borders later this month.

She is giving her own songs their first public airing at the Graham Institute in West Linton.

The event, which will be held on Friday, November 21, at 8.30pm, is promoted by the village’s Music Soc and will feature Gerda with five other professional musicians.

The new songs are all Gerda’s own work and she said: “In common with all my poetry, drama and prose, some of my songs are autobiographical, some are other people’s stories, some a combination of both.

“They cover a range of styles, reflecting my upbringing in a musically eclectic household. Hailing from the Scottish Borders, I love the great border ballads, but I’m equally at home with a bit of swing.” Collaborations in theatre brought Gerda together with most of the musicians on this album: Konrad Wiszniewski in her play Federer Versus Murray at Oran Mor, Glasgow; Seylan Baxter in the Rowantree Theatre Co’s production The Lasses O (Best Use of Music and Sound, CATS Awards) and her play Skeleton Wumman (Oran Mor, Traverse and West Yorkshire Playhouse); James Ross in his musical story-telling composition The Boy and the Bunnet, at Celtic Connections; Rob MacNeacail (of Edinburgh band Miasma), in Skeleton Wumman on the Edinburgh Fringe; Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Kyrre Slind at Feile na Greine, Ireland. Inge Thomson just happened to be in Castlesound Studios when she needed some Parisian magic!

With producer Mattie Foulds, Castlesound was the obvious place to record the album, having recorded many BBC Radio drama productions there in the safe hands of Stuart Hamilton.

Tickets for the event are on sale via the eventbrite website.