Album Review: Marieann Dwyer, Stolen Hearts

Citing influences as diverse as Johnny Cash and Richard Thompson, along with the gamut of Irish folk, traditional and rock, Dublin-born MarieAnn Dwyer has delivered a highly engaging debut album. Recorded variously in counties Clare and Kildare with production by PJ Curtis and Frankie Lane, the sessions feature a cast of well-known musicians (including Lane) from the folk, trad and country world.

Songs range from well-known and oft-recorded standards such as Thompson’s ‘Dimming Of The Day’, Cash’s ‘I Still Miss Someone’ and the Patrick Kavanagh penned ‘Raglan Road’ to lesser-known fare like the bluegrass classic ‘Don’t This Road Look Rough And Rocky’ and Boo Hewerdine’s ‘Bell, Book & Candle’. Dwyer’s quietly enchanting voice (not unlike that of Eddie Reader) handles these tunes with ease, while the mainly acoustic instrumental backing is impeccable throughout.

She includes some of her own songs too, notably the title track, which has echoes of The Rolling Stones in their mid-60s-s psyche folk phase (‘Play With Fire’); and the soft country ballad ‘Kentucky Loving’, which blends the yearning of Linda Ronstadt’s version of ‘Blue Bayou’ with the rhythmic pace of Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Ode To Billy Joe’.

Paul McCartney’s ‘Blackbird’ is given a standard treatment, with dobro and harmonica adding some colour. Sarah McLachlan’s ‘In The Arms Of An Angel’ seems tailor-made for Dwyer’s vocal style; likewise Gillian Welch’s poignant ‘Orphan Girl’. A gently rolling, ‘Tennessee Waltz’ completes this enjoyable and often compelling album.