The Burton Mail is helping to showcase the best musical talent in its circulation area, with the launch of a CD put together by the newspaper.

The Burton Mail On The Record CD will feature 18 tracks from bands and solo artists, all hand-picked by an eight-strong panel which included Mail editor-in-chief Paul Hazeldine, who came up with the idea.

Readers will be able to get their hands on a copy of the CD by collecting tokens printed in the Mail, and an evening of live music from artists featured on the CD will be held to coincide with its launch.

Paul said: “We are very excited about the CD and the live launch night and we are confident that both will be big successes.

“Hopefully, they will be so successful that we will be able to repeat this exercise and produce an On The Record Volume Two in the future. That is our aim.

“This sort of project has been tried elsewhere in the country with limited success. But there has been so much enthusiasm and positive feedback from the local music community about the On The Record CD that I am confident it will prove very popular with Mail readers.”

An eight-strong selection panel made up of local musicians, sound technicians, promoters, retailers and music fans, sifted through all the submitted songs before coming up with a suggested track listing.

Each member of the panel chose just one song which they felt had to be included, then voted for a further ten.

The final running order will be announced in the Burton Mail and on its website www.burtonmail.co.uk on Friday, April 2.

Visitors to the paper’s website will then be able to listen to exclusive extracts from the CD for two weeks prior to launch.

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