Mary has recorded a song for Steve Martin's album "The Crow". Steve is a longtime fan of Mary's and he asked her to sing on a track he wrote "Calico Train". The album was produced by John McEuen. He wrote about the process on his MySpace blog: http://blogs.myspace.com/johnmceuen

Joe (Mary's manager) also wrote the following about this experience:

John sent the backing track to me along with Steve's lyrics and asked if Mary would be interested in recording a vocal - Mary liked the track and said she'd try it and see if it worked for her - it took a bit of work because it sounded more like a banjo instrumental than a song.

John brought the master to Dublin and we booked a session at The Cauldron Studios in Dublin just before Christmas. A few days before the recording Steve Martin called me and said he wanted to fly in for the recording and hook up with Mary - a bit of a shock to the system to get a call like that on my phone!

What a lovely guy Steve turned out to be and a genuine fan of Mary's from old - they hit it off really well. They had good fun in the studio and we all went for dinner after.

Finally Steve and John McEuen and a few friends said they'd like to go and hear some Irish music so we took them to The Cobblestone where there was a good session in progress and they joined in and played a few tunes on their banjos much to the surprise of the locals.

After about an hour and a half they had to leave to get their awaiting plane home - a memorable day!

I have just received information regarding a series of documentaries called “The Music Makers” on BBC1 Northern Ireland (thanks Dominique). Tomorrow night, October 7th 2009 will feature Mary Black. The broadcast starts at 22:45 GMT (British time) on BBC1 Northern Ireland.

More information about this program: Mike Edgar, Head of Entertainment and Events, BBC Northern Ireland and Executive Producer of The Music Makers says: “The Music Makers is a celebration of four of the very finest artists ever to come from this island. We have a very rich musical heritage and this series gives us the opportunity to share and explore the talents of four wonderful people.

This first series looks at the careers to date of Paul Brady, Mary Black, Neil Hannon, and Mary O’Hara, all of whom have achieved major success not only at home but also on the international stage. “Music and story telling is part of our DNA, a fact that we should be rightly proud of and our four guests will be telling us about their musical journey in their own words and, who knows, maybe some improvised performance. However, we will also be digging deep into BBC Northern Ireland’s archive to share some amazing footage compiled over four decades including some not-to-be-missed forgotten gems. I have to say I felt so privileged recently to sit with the producer of the series wading through tape after tape of live performances, many of which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“On a lighter note, the haircuts and fashions may also put a smile on the faces of many of our viewers who lived through some of the moments that will feature in the series. For many of us music forms the soundtrack of our lives and if you love good music and people who can tell a great story The Music Makers is an ‘appointment to view’ television.”

For more information please visit the Music Makers Website at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n5rc1

• The discography section now contains links to Mary's albums and songs on iTunes.
• The YouTube video section contains ten videos taken from the Twenty-five Years - Twenty-five Songs DVD which you can watch using the videoplayer on this site. Each month another selection of ten videos from that DVD will be made available.
• The sidebar on the right side of each page gives you an quick overview of the upcoming concerts and latest news. It also highlights an item available in the webshop and gives you direct access to one of the available videos.
• You can now choose for yourself what visual theme to use when visiting this site. There are currently three themes available ("25 Years"," Full Tide" and "Babes in the Wood"), but more will follow soon. You can pick a theme using the selection box in the sidebar.
• The music player - which can be activated from the sidebar - now contains two additional tracks: "The Real You" and a live recording of "Bless the Road".
• Mary’s biography has been updated.
• The photo galleries now not only allow you to browse through the available photos, but also gives you the option to watch a slideshow of those photos.
• It is now easier to contact us via this site. In the contact section in the footer you can find all the (e-mail) addresses for you to contact us. You can even send Mary a message.
• The use of soundclips has been extended. You can now listen to a soundclip of all Mary’s songs throughout this site: from the track listings in the discography section and from the songs and lyrics section.

Notice that we are still working on transferring all data from the previous site. Not all items in the discography section and not all galleries have been transferred yet. This will be completed in the coming weeks. Also be aware that it may take some time before Google has updated their indexes, so the search function in the sidebar may not work in the first few weeks.

We hope you will enjoy this new site. If you have any feedback (whether it being positive or negative), please contact us about it so we can use your feedback to improve the site further.

• The six signed Mary Black DVD's go to: Patrick Bonner (Scotland), Martin Sapsed (UK), Kevin McCorkle (USA), Thomas Pressel (USA), Corry Vogels (The Netherlands) and David den Engelsman (The Netherlands).
• The Black Family - Our Time Together album signed by all members of the Black Family goes to: Paul Dolan (Ireland)
• The Twenty-five Years - Twenty-five Songs Songbook goes to: Channa van Kuijen (The Netherlands)
• The Katie (2008 Remix) Promo CD Single goes to: Stephen Francis (USA)
• The three full tide posters go to: Simone Bassi (Italy), Linda Stock (France) and Jane Boon (The Netherlands)