News Archive
BBC Radio Scotland features Mary Black in My Life in Five Songs
BBC Radio Scotland features Mary Black in My Life in Five Songs
New single release
New single release
The song is available in iTunes, at Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Play.com. You can listen to a preview on the website or look at the accompanying video on YouTube. Lyrics can be found here.
Video to Marguerite and the Gambler
Video to Marguerite and the Gambler
Spread the word about the new single
Spread the word about the new single
Contest: Win a promo CD of 'Marguerite and the Gambler'
Contest: Win a promo CD of 'Marguerite and the Gambler'
Mary's new single Marguerite and the Gambler is currently only available digitally via online shops such as iTunes, Amazon and Play. However, a limited amount of promo CD's have been made of this single for radio stations. And now you can win one of these promo CD's by answering one question. Before the actual question, first a brief introduction to the question:
Marguerite and the Gambler' tells the age old story Mary told in her first solo recording 'Anachie Gordon'. The first time Mary performed 'Anachie Gordon' on TV was by invitation of Christy Moore. This TV program was not a live broadcast. The day it was broadcasted was also special day in Mary's life for a more personal reason.
Here is the question:
Why was the day that Mary's first TV performance of 'Anachie Gordon' was broadcasted so special to Mary (besides the broadcast itself)?
As the contest is closed, you can no longer send in your answers.
Mary on BBC Radio Scotland
Mary on BBC Radio Scotland
Winners of the 'Marguerite and the Gambler' contest
Winners of the 'Marguerite and the Gambler' contest
We recently ran a contest in which you could win a promo CD of 'Marguerite and the Gambler'. The question in the contest was Why was the day that Mary's first TV performance of 'Anachie Gordon' was broadcasted so special to Mary (besides the broadcast itself)?. The correct answer is because it was her wedding day.
The four winners of this contest are:
- Ross McGowan
- Gill Jones
- David Goodwin
- Linda Stock
Tickets for TV show with Mary (closes 31 May)
Tickets for TV show with Mary (closes 31 May)
For One Night Only: A six part entertainment series hosted by the irrepressible legend Gaybo, featuring music and chat from some of the stalwarts of the Irish Music Industry: Mary Black, Daniel O’Donnell, Christy Moore, Imelda May and Bob Geldof.
If you would like to be part of our studio audience for this intimate show with Mary, which will take place in RTE studios in Dublin on Tuesday Evening the 7th of June, you can apply for an application form by sending an e-mail to onenightonly@rte.ie and please put Mary Black in the subject box. Closing date for Applications will be Tuesday 31st of May
Unfortunately we only have a limited amount of tickets available so everyone that applies may not be guaranteed a ticket. So, only apply if you are able to make it to the RTE studios in Dublin on Tuesday Evening the 7th of June.
If you have any problem emailing you can contact Avril on 012083906
For One Night Only this Friday on RTE 1
For One Night Only this Friday on RTE 1
RTE 1 will broadcast the episode of For One Night Only with Mary Black this coming Friday, 12 August 2011 at 9:30pm (Irish time). The broadcast will be available on the Internet as well for a couple of weeks.
For One Night Only is a six part entertainment series hosted by the irrepressible legend Gaybo, featuring music and chat from some of the stalwarts of the Irish music industry; Christy Moore, Daniel O'Donnell, Mary Black, Imelda May, Paul Brady and Bob Geldof.
For one Night Only gives an intimate and emotional look at the featured artist's life story. Filmed in front of a studio audience of no more than 200 fans who have the exclusive opportunity to get 'up close and personal' with their idols.
Click here for the website of the show.
Mary Black Anthology Video
Mary Black Anthology Video
Walking with my Love contest
Walking with my Love contest
I have two Walking with my Love EP's to give away in a contest. All you have to do is tell me which organization do Mary Black and Finbar Furey support with this EP?
As the contest is closed, you can no longer send in our answer.
Winners of the Walking with my Love contest
Winners of the Walking with my Love contest
- Colleen Harte
- Craig Werner
Message from 3ú Records regarding the new album
Message from 3ú Records regarding the new album
"Stories from the Steeples" contest
"Stories from the Steeples" contest
To celebrate the upcoming release of Mary's new album, we are organizing this contest. In this contest you can win the new album and other prizes.
What can you win:
- One first prize winner receives the Special Edition of "Stories from the Steeples".
- Three second place winners receive the regular edition of "Stories from the Steeples".
- Two third prize winners receive a CD single. One receives the "Marguerite and the Gambler" single, the other the "No Frontiers" single.
What do you have to do to enter? Just answer the following question:
On "Stories from the Steeples", Mary sings three duets: one with Imelda May, one with Janis Ian and one with Finbar Furey. In the past, Mary has recorded duets with other artists. Name at least three other artists with whom Mary recorded a duet and give the title of those duets. The duet must have been released on an album or single of Mary.
Send in your answer no later then 19 October 2011 to contest@mary-black.net
Mary Black App for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
Mary Black App for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
We have just released an app for Mary Black in the Apple app store. This app for Mary Black gives you access to an extensive archive of information about Mary Black right on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch (requires iOS 4.1 or higher).
The app not only contains almost all the information you can find on the website such as news, concert dates, the discography, all songs and lyrics, the library and all official videos, but it also presents it to you in an enhanced manner. For example, it keeps track of which news items and library articles you have already read. It shows you where venues are on a map and it can link the list of songs to the songs in the music library of your device so you have access to all songs from within the app. And those songs that you don't own will have access to a sound clip or iTunes if the song is for sale there.
But the app also contains two Mary Black related games: In "Recognize the Lyrics" you are presented with a sentence of eight words from a randomly chosen song and you have to guess from which song that sentence is. In "Pitch Perfect" a fragment of a Mary Black song is being played but at the incorrect pitch. It is up to you to set the pitch as it ought to be.
The app also contains a Song of the Day feature: each day features one Mary Black song. Everyone around the world using this app will be listening to that same song. A great way to become part of the world-wide Mary Black community and to experience the extensive library of Mary's repertoire throughout the year.
A lot of information found in the app can be shared with your friends via e-mail, sms and/or Twitter (Twitter on iOS 5 and higher only).
If you have a iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with iOS 4.1 of higher (if not, use iTunes to see if you can upgrade your device to iOS 4.1), you can download the app in the Apple App Store. Please also be so kind to rate the app in the App Store after you have used it for a while.
Stories from the Steeples Special Edition
Stories from the Steeples Special Edition
On the 21st of October 2011, Mary will be releasing her new album "Stories from the Steeples" on the 3ú Records label in Ireland.
"Stories from the Steeples" will be released in two editions: a regular edition and a special edition.
The regular edition contains eleven new tracks and one bonus track. Three of the songs are duets. "Mountains to the Sea" with Imelda May, "Walking with my Love" with Finbar Furey and "Lighthouse Light" with Janis Ian. The full track list can be found on Mary's website.
The special edition of Stories from the Steeples comes in the form of a book. The CD in the book contains all twelve tracks from the regular edition, but it also contains an additional two bonus tracks: "On A Winter's Afternoon" and "One In A Million".
Both editions contain the lyrics and musicians credits, Mary's notes about the songs and illustrations from Irish artist Deirdre Keohane.
"Stories from the Steeples" will be available in shops in Ireland from the 21st of October and via Mary's website and iTunes. Releases outside of Ireland will follow shortly.
International Release Dates
International Release Dates
Mary's new album Stories from the Steeples will be released in the following countries on the following dates:
- The Netherlands - 31 October on Music and Words
- Australia and New Zealand - 4 November on The Planet Company
- UK - 14 November on Blix Street Records
Stories from the Steeples contest winners
Stories from the Steeples contest winners
- The first prize winner is Astrid Weiffen. She will receive the Special Edition of the Stories from the Steeples album.
- The three second prize winners are Hester van Duinen, Jan Dirk Kooiman and Pauline Dring. They will each receive the Stories from the Steeples album.
- The third prize winners are Heather Buret who receives the Marguerite and the Gambler CD Single and Paul Facey-Hunter who receives the No Frontiers CD Single.
Duet with Lenette van Dongen in Amsterdam
Duet with Lenette van Dongen in Amsterdam
Mary announces Grand Canal Theatre gig in Dublin
Mary announces Grand Canal Theatre gig in Dublin
Reviews of Stories from the Steeples
Reviews of Stories from the Steeples
The Whisper of Sweet Things - Warwick McFadyen -The Melbourne Age - The Saturday Age - Album Review - 10 December 2011
Gentleness can be an orphan to these times; its soft voice lost in the gales of modern life. But there’s gales and there’s Gaels.
To the latter, here we have two of the finest in their art. They are two voices of the British Isles, one from Ireland, the other from Scotland; one the long-reigning star in the Irish folk firmament, the other a rising light in the northern sky. One is Mary Black, the other Emily Smith.
In the case of Stories from the Steeples, Black has assembled a strong supporting cast from Down Under for her material. She covers The Night Was Dark and Deep (Paul Kelly, titled in his collection as They Thought I Was Asleep), Mountains to the Sea (Shane Howard and Neil Murray), All the Fine Young Men (Eric Bogle, John Munro) and One True Place (Neil Murray).
As much as Black is such a fine singer able to cross genres, she is also an insightful interpreter. The Night Was Dark and Deep — Kelly’s gem of a vignette of a young boy overhearing a strained conversation between his parents on a long car journey — is coloured with a sensitive empathy. It’s actually a trait of Black’s throughout her long career across traditional, pop, even jazz-inflected tunes: she is able to live the song. Some would call it soul.
To illustrate this masterful blending, Black duets with three wildly different singers: Imelda May, Finbar Furey and Janis Ian. And she brings in the family, recording songs by her son Danny O’Reilly.
Stories from the Steeples finds Black back in the best form of her career. Her voice is as strong and sensitive as ever, neither twee nor diddley-i. It’s a cathedral of sound, subdued and strong.
Stories from the Steeples
Mary Black
(3u Records/Planet)
****
Folking.com - by Mike Wilson
This is the first studio recording from Mary Black in six years, and it’s a collection that demonstrates an artist in full command of her bewitching vocal prowess. Throughout an impressive career, Mary has consistently demonstrated impeccable taste in her choice of material, and the evidence presented here suggests that her ear for seeking out songs of utmost grace and beauty is as keen as ever. With a voice that has only gained in depth and resonance over the years, Mary brings her trademark warmth and sincerity, casting light and shade amongst the lyrics to create her own personal space amongst the words of carefully chosen songwriters. Never one to rest on her laurels, we’re gifted songs from familiar friends such as Shane Howard, Eric Bogle and Julie Matthews, alongside burgeoning writing talents, including Danny O’Reilly and Ricky Lynch.
Sharing the stage with a number of guests, Stories From The Steeples contains three duets: the beguiling “Lighthouse Light” features Janis Ian in a perfectly balanced performance that whets the appetite for further exploration of this winsome partnership; the robust, soulful voice of Imelda May joins Mary on an affirmative song of place and belonging, “Mountains To The Sea”; and the playful “Walking With My Love” finds Mary exchanging lines with the legendary Finbar Furey. All three performances are notable for their palpable sense of modesty and mutual admiration.
Two stand-out tracks come from particularly close to home, being written by Mary’s son, Danny O’Reilly. “Faith In Fate” paints a stark contrast between the sheer despair of a broken relationship with a determined hopefulness to move on and patch things up. Managing to be simultaneously bleak and uplifting with its heady infusion of hurt and devoted affection, it’s a song that plays to all the strengths of Mary’s typically emotion-wrought interpretation. Offering a similar cocktail of emotions, “Wizard of Oz” is a mournful reflection on the search for strength and happiness, underpinned by a dreamy string arrangement over which Mary lays her heartwarming vocals.
Fulfilling the role of storyteller, Mary excels in bringing lifelike colour to the characters of “Marguerite And The Gambler,” a Ricky Lynch song that recounts the familiar tale of many a traditional folk ballad, with its gamblers, true love, misguided familial intervention, heartbreak and devastation. Those purchasing the extended version of the album are handsomely rewarded with an exquisite reading of Chris Woods’ “One In A Million,” a story of true love that takes the mundanities of life and turns it in to utter magic, and proving beyond any doubt that Mary remains a song’s best friend.
Paul Kelly’s “They Thought I Was Asleep” benefits from a tender reading, cloaked in Mary’s trademark warmth, depicting the torment of a child inadvertently witnessing from the back seat of a car, the emotional breakdown of his parents’ relationship. Equally devastating, though of more epic proportions, Eric Bogle’s “All the Fine Young Men” is made all the more disarming, thanks to the sheer reverence with which Mary furnishes this stark, anti-war anthem.
With a little less polish than some of her earlier releases, Stories From The Steeples steps forward as an intimate, unpretentious collection, bathed in a soft but radiant glow of effortlessness and wholehearted integrity. Time will tell, but Stories From The Steeples may well prove to be Mary’s best yet.
Hot Press, vol. 35, issue 22 - by Jackie Hayden: Assured Return By Irish Legend
With here first full studio outing in six years, Mary Black is back with an album on which she uncompromisingly showcases some of the most undeservedly unsung songwriters. The Coronas’ Danny O’Reilly, (coincidentally her son), leads the pack, supplying three classy tracks. ‘The Night Is On Our Side’ is very good while, buoyed by Black’s expressive vocal talents, ‘Faith In Fate’ is a true gem.
With the opener, the Dylanesque narrative ‘Marguerite And The Gambler’, Black introduces us to the songsmithing skills of Ricky Lynch: Finbar Furey joins her on the jaunty ‘Walkin’ With My Love’, creating a timeless duet that suggests they should do it again soon. Imelda May joins the fray on the upbeat ‘Mountains To The Sea’, a colourful evocation of the outdoors from Australians Shane Howard and Neil Murray. The indomitable Richie Buckley lays his trademark sax on ‘Faith In Fate’. Black and Janis Ian duet deliciously on the heart-stealing ‘Lighthouse Light’. And the album ends on a wistful note with Black’s Frenchified version of The Hollies’ ‘Fifi The Flea’.
Mary Black instinctively makes a song her own, and her voice here is more expressively fragile than before. The musicianship is impeccable, especially Bill Shanley’s guitar and Pat Crowley’s keyboards, making Stories From The Steeples a very worthy addition to an already impressive catalogue. Mary: back in the Black…
The Irish Times, The Ticket - by Siobhán Long
Stories define Mary Black’s latest collection, and quite a few have Antipodean roots: spare, sometimes parched, and shot through with an intimacy that lures the listener into the beating heart of the song. Danny O’Reilly of The Coronas contributes three of the best tracks, with The Wizard of Oz a standout: a story of heartbreak and tentative renewal celebrating the best of Black’s interpretive skills against a spartan backdrop of piano, cello, violin and double bass. Guest vocalists include Janis Ian, Imelda May and Finbar Furey; their disparate styles at one with Black’s. Paul Kelly’s The Night Was Dark and Deep is neatly reinvented, and Black’s three offspring get a peep-in on O’Reilly’s radio-friendly The Night Is on Our Side. Shades of Mary Chapin Carpenter colour this collection, whose main surprises are found lurking in the songwriting.
MOJO magazine four star review in their March 2012 issue
The award-winning Irish singer's first album of new material in six years. It's all about the songs - each handpicked and worthy of Black's interpretative touch. Material like All The Fine Young Men, an anti-war anthem by the great Eric Bogle, and Marguerite And The Gambler, a song by Cork's Ricky Lynch that takes its inspiration from The Falconer, a painting displayed in a Cork Art gallery. Then there's the totally melodic Wizard Of Oz, one of three compositions donated by young songwriter Danny O'Reilly, that could easily become a standard. Add such guest-assisted goodies as Walking With My Love, which boasts the talents of Finbar Furey, along with Mountains To The Sea (with Imelda May) and Lighthouse Light (with Janis Ian), wrap the whole in a production that appeals both to a commercial audience and one that favours a more traditional approach, and Black has achieved the perfect meld.
Fred Dallar, MOJO Magazine, March 2012
Several more reviews of Stories from the Steeples are appearing.
Here are links to some of those reviews: