Mary Black (IE)

About

Few voices in Irish folk have the staying power of Mary Black's. The Dublin singer built her reputation through a solo career that stretches back to 1983, with albums like No Frontiers and Babes in the Wood becoming touchstones of the genre. Her warm, deeply expressive alto has a way of making traditional material feel personal rather than museumlike, and that quality kept her audience close across more than a dozen studio records. Before going solo, Black cut her teeth with the Dublin folk group General Humbert and recorded with De Dannan, which gave her a solid grounding in traditional Irish music. Her collaborations have ranged across the folk and Americana world, sharing stages and recordings with Emmylou Harris, Joan Baez, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Van Morrison. Guitarist Declan Sinnott became a long running creative partner, shaping much of the sound that made her records so distinctive.