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Black is
Back Mary Black, one of Ireland’s most-loved performers, is back in the spotlight with Full Tide, her finest and most critically acclaimed album in many years. By Ian Worpole.
M
ary Black and her siblings, Frances, Michael, Shay and Martin, have long been Ireland’s premier musical family, performing together as The Black Family and in various combinations since the late 1970’s. Parents, Kevin and Patty, were traditional musicians who fostered the love of music in their children; from there Mary has been the one to most move on from the traditional songs, building a stellar career singing contemporary material by the likes of Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson and Nanci Griffith. She has often noted that she prefers to be thought of as a singer, rather than an “Irish” singer. With a catalogue of some 13 albums, nine of which went platinum, including the three hugely popular Woman’s Heart albums that also include sister Frances and many more of Ireland’s leading divas, Mary’s career continues its illustrious path. I caught up with Mary by phone at her Dublin home prior to her U.S. tour, which covered 10 cities in October (see accompanying review). I had planned to ask Mary about her old pal Maura O’Connell, long resident in Nashville, but she preempted me by casually mentioning that Maura was in the living room. They were rehearsing songs that Maura would be singing with her on some parts of the tour. Indeed, as we talked, there was a holler from Ms. O’Connell to get back to work. 88 IRISH AMERICA DECEMBER / JANUARY 2008
Tell me about the tour. I try to tour the U.S. once a year, whether I have a new album or not. I have a fan base there that fills the halls no matter what, and it’s great to come back and perform for them, and meet up with old friends. I’ll have Bill Hanley on guitar, and a couple of Brits, Neal Drinkwater on piano and Martin Ditcham on drums. My son Danny [O’Reilly, age 22] will be joining me on some vocals. [Mary is married to Joe O’Reilly of Dara Records. Joe is also Mary’s manager]. Danny is becoming quite a performer. Yes. Danny is a fine singer/songwriter, he performs with me sometimes and on a fairly recent tour he was the opening act. We’ve cowritten some songs together too. My 19-year-old daughter Roisin is also singing, she appears on some of the tracks on Full Tide and will often join me on stage. My oldest son, Conor [age 25] also loves the music. He plays guitar and bass. Your most recent album (Full Tide, 2006) was very well received, awards and all. Do you feel you’re going from strength to strength? I don’t know, in a way it’s kind of scary. After Speaking with the Angel (1999), I wondered, ‘have I said everything?’ I honestly thought about calling it a day. But Danny persuaded me to try my hand at writing, and we co-wrote a song about the loss of my mother. When Noel died [Noel Brazil, a singer song-writer whose songs have long been a staple of Mary’s repertoire], I felt it would only be right to record some more of his great songs. I got together with the band at my home in Kerry and we recorded the basics of