Song For Ireland

Song for Ireland is a collection of contemporary and traditional Irish songs drawn from Mary Black's previous albums. Unlike most folk singers, Black is comfortable in modern pop settings such as on the emigrant song "Ellis Island," which features electric guitars and synthesizers. But she is at her best when her backing musicians unplug and she blends her gorgeous voice with their traditional acoustic instruments. When she sings selections like the heart-rending ballad "Loving Hannah," Dick Gaughan's moving call for peace "Both Sides of the Tweed," or "The Shadow," a haunting ode to the Irish statesman Michael Collins backed by fiddle, uilleann pipes, and tin whistle, she weaves a spell few performers can equal. Song for Ireland may not be a greatest-hits album in the normal sense of the phrase, but the music here ranks among Mary Black's finest. --Michael Simmons