Bryan Adams: acoustic guitar, vocal
Máire Breatnach: viola
Colin Cripps: slide guitar

Produced by Bryan Adams.  Recorded by Ben Dobie.  Mixed by Bob Clearmountain at Mix This, Los Angeles. Strings recorded by Roger Monk.  String arrangement by Roger Greenaway.  Viola recorded at Pulse Recording Studio, Dublin.

Bryan Adams: acoustic guitar, vocal

In 1978, not long after we first met, Bryan and I wrote an up-tempo rock track called "I'm Ready" (it eventually appeared on Bryan's 1983 album "Cuts Like A Knife").

Nearly 20 years later Bryan surprised me when he re-arranged "I'm Ready" as an acoustic ballad, which he included on his 1997 "MTV Unplugged" album.

In fact, I much prefer the new acoustic arrangement over the original rock arrangement.

"Walk On By" was also originally written as an up-tempo rocker. Once again, it was Bryan's idea to slow it down, perform it acoustically, and add the string arrangement. Even after he'd decided on the "acoustic ballad" treatment, Bryan continued to experiment with the instrumentation.

For example, the first recorded draft of the new arrangement had an Irish flute on the opening melodic theme, the same instrument Bryan used on the unplugged version of "I'm Ready" (Irish flute will be familiar to anyone who's heard the soundtrack for the film "Titanic"). 

It was later decided that a cello might be more appropriate, and I suggested that Bryan contact Jorane, the brilliant and quirky Quebec cellist. At one point Bryan and Jorane were both in France, only a few miles apart, but they were unable to find a suitable time to meet for a recording session.

Domage.

Instead, a viola was recorded in Dublin ... and I think it sounds wonderful.  It was performed by the well-known Irish violist Máire Breatnach.  Below is her impressive biography, copied from her website:

Máire has composed and recorded four solo albums: Angels' Candles, The Voyage of Bran, Celtic Lovers and Dreams and Visions in Irish Song - Aislingí Ceoil.

On fiddle, viola, whistles, piano and keyboards, guitar and vocals, Máire has performed and recorded with Riverdance, Christy Moore, Alan Stivell, Ronan Keating, Máire Brennan, Phil Chevron, Sinead O' Connor, Altan, Sharon Shannon, Mary Black, Mike Oldfield, Donovan, Dave Gilmour, Sarah Brightman, Gavin Friday, Nigel Kennedy, Donal Lunny, Dolores Keane, Ronnie Drew, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Ronan Hardiman and Bill Whelan. As a record producer, she has worked with Sonny Condell, Johnny McEvoy, Jim McCann, The Black Family, Keith Donald, Pádraigín Ní Úallacháin, Méav and Lasairfhióna Ní Chonaola.

TV and film credits include Glenroe, Tinteán, and Voyage (RTE), A Freezing Summer (Japan), Angela Mooney Dies Again, In The Name of the Father, The Secret of Roan Inish, Rob Roy and Moondance.

Recently, Máire has featured on the two chart-topping albums, Tears of Stone (The Chieftains), which subesquently won a Grammy award, and Éist, for which she wrote the title song, a duet with Brian Kennedy.