To celebrate the new website, we had set up a contest. In this contest you needed to explore the new website to answer the following three questions:

1. List, in order, the 3 songs that have the most song versions (notice: distinct song versions, not the amount of tracks) . Also include the amount of versions for those songs. Do not count versions labeled “sheet music”.
2. What is the venue that Mary has played the most in inside of Ireland (since 1999)?
3. What is the venue that Mary has played the most in outside of Ireland (since 1999)?

As the contest is closed, no new entries can be submitted.

From the correct entries, we will draw 10 winners. All winners will receive a copy of the Down The Crooked Road album and the Marguerite and the Gambler promo CD. The first three winners will also be able to choose a rare LP from the list below, with the first prize winner having first choice, then the second prize winner and the remaining LP is for the third prize winner:

1. Mary Black Collected which contains the following three tracks that have never been released on CD: Love’s Endless War, Everything That Touches Me and Don’t Explain (1984 studio version).
2. The Best of Mary Black which contains two rare tracks: The single version of Past The Point Of Rescue and the track I Just Wanna Dance With You.
3. De Dannan - Song for Ireland, which contains the very first recording of Song for Ireland by Mary.

We will announce the winners on 12 March on the website. Each winner will also be contacted personally.

Good luck.

I am happy to let you know that Mary Black’s website has been completely redesigned. The new site has a different look and adapts to all kinds of device sizes automatically. Whether you access it on smartphones, tablets or computers with large monitors, the site will automatically adapt to the available screen size.

The discography section is also updated and now lists all the different versions of a song that exist. There is even a sound clip for (almost) every version of every song that you can listen to. Older sound clips that were taken from vinyl records have also been replaced by cleaned up versions that sound much better.

The new site has also been made usable for people who are vision impaired and who need to use screen readers (thanks to Dominique Farrell for helping me test this extensively).

MARY BLACK APP TEMPORARY ISSUE
As the Mary Black iOS app uses the website to retrieve it’s data from and the new website is built on a different server technology, the Mary Black app may give some issues for a few days. The problem is that I cannot test and submit an updated version of the app to Apple for review until the new website has gone live. But when the new website goes live, the current iOS app version does not work anymore. I’ll test the updated app as soon as possible and hope that the review by Apple will also be swift. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

CONTEST
To celebrate the new website, we have set up a contest in which we will give away 10 signed copies of the Down The Crooked Road album combined with the Marguerite and the Gambler promo CD. And three winners even win a rare LPs, each one with at least one track that is hard to find. For all the details regarding the contest click here.

Mark van Setten

"It was with great sadness that I received the news last week of the sudden death of a dear friend and colleague, Derry (Dermot) O’Connor (The Brand Idea). He was responsible for the design of most of my album covers over the last 20 years. He was a talented graphic designer but also had a passion for music and always put his heart and soul into every project. My heart and sympathies go out to his wife Pat and two daughters, Julie and Lisa and to all his family. We will miss Derry greatly both professionally and as a friend.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam - RIP”

Mary

About a month ago, we started a contest for celebrate the release of the new website.

In this contest we asked you to explore the new website to answer the following three questions:

1. List, in order, the 3 songs that have the most song versions (notice: distinct song versions, not the amount of tracks) . Also include the amount of versions for those songs. Do not count versions labeled “sheet music”.
2. What is the venue that Mary has played the most in inside of Ireland (since 1999)?
3. What is the venue that Mary has played the most in outside of Ireland (since 1999)?

The correct answers to these questions are:

1. Song for Ireland: 7 versions, No Frontiers: 6 versions, Katie: 5 versions
2. Olympia, Dublin
3. The Birchmere, Alexandria (VA), USA

It seems that the contest was a bit too difficult as we only received three correct entries. As we had prizes for 10 winners, we have decided to use the remaining prizes that are not awarded with this contest for a new (easier) contest that we will set up soon.

The winners for this contest are:

1. Steve Enright
2. Lore Leanne
3. Lee Lord

I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Thom Moore last weekend (March 17th).

Thom was a truly gifted songwriter with a beautiful golden voice. I remember back in 1989 when we were on the last day of recording the album ‘No Frontiers’ and Thom walked into the studio saying he had some songs. He took out his guitar and sang ‘Carolina Rua’ and ‘ The Fog in Monterey’. We were mesmerised and realised instantly that the album wasn’t finished - both songs were recorded by us later that day!

I will be forever grateful for those songs and the many more songs of his I recorded since then. His lyrics had such wisdom and truth alongside clever melodic tunes that stay with you long after the song is finished. He is another great loss to Irish music and musicians.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Mary

Hello Friends,

I’m being treated this week in St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin. It’s been a tough week but I’m hoping to get home on Saturday. Thanks to all the doctors and nurses for their kindness and care for me here. Hoping to get home on Saturday and certainly haven’t ruled out Vicar St next Weekend....fingers crossed.

Thanks for all the messages of support.

Love,

Mary

We’re happy to announce that Mary has improved significantly over the last few days and she has decided to resume her tour as advertised, starting this weekend with the Landmark Hotel, Carrick on Shannon on Friday 27th and The Burnavon Theatre in Cookstown on Saturday 28th.

Next weekend she’ll play The Millennium Theatre in Derry on May 4th and Town Hall Theatre in Galway May 5th.