February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
On Nov. 19 before a packed house of 982 in the beautiful Kitty Carlisle Hart Theatre at the Egg Center for the Performing Arts, Empire State Plaza, in Albany, N.Y., Mary Black, Maura O’Connell, Cara Dillon, and Sharon Shannon yielded the spotlight to their male accompanists at one point during the performance of McEvoy’s song.
There was one key difference: the men changed “heart” to “arse” in the lyric as the four women turned around and waggled their bums to loud laughter from the audience. This “cheeky” hilarity then gave way to the women roaring back with the unaltered lyric and even interpolating Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” to re-establish the serious, anthemic impact of McEvoy’s song.
You can keep your glitzed-up, telegenic Celtic Woman troupe now on tour. Based on this thoroughly enjoyable, highly entertaining concert, I’ll take Black, O’Connell, Shannon, and Dillon, who smartly avoided the diva-glam look. The emphasis was not on appearance but on substance, and the foursome delivered it in abundance in a concert that was part of the first-ever “A Woman’s Heart” tour of the United States.
Ennis-born Maura O’Connell, who’s lived in Nashville for many years, was nothing short of electrifying. I have seen her perform several times in the past, but the set she delivered after intermission was easily one of the most impressive I’ve ever witnessed.
O’Connell began with Cheryl Wheeler’s “Summerfly,” lending it a quick-pulse wryness and wit tinged with regret. She followed with a smoldering, gooseflesh-raising rendition of Jennifer Kimball and Tom Kimmel’s song “The Blue Train,” where her long vocal sustains made the ache in the song almost palpable.
With Pat Crowley backing on piano accordion, she sang a Nanci Griffith and Rick West song, “Trouble in the Fields,” that must now be considered O’Connell’s alone. She absolutely nailed it, imparting extraordinary pathos to well-crafted lines like “Our parents had their hard times fifty years ago /When they stood out in these empty fields in dust as deep as snow” and “You’ll be the mule / I’ll be the plow / Come harvest time / We’ll work it out / There’s still a lot of love here in these troubled fields.”
Even in “Western Highway,” a Gerry O’Beirne song that rarely rises above the clich