Shannon McNally’s new album Black Irish, due out June 9 on Compass Records, includes several songs penned by producer Rodney Crowell, along with some of her personal favorites by Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, J.J. Cale, The Staple Singers, and Robbie Robertson. The Memphis-infused collection stirs up blues, country, soul, rock, folk, and pop into a tasty stew of emotions, and features backing vocals/harmonies by Emmylou Harris, Elizabeth Cook, and Wendy Moten.
Recorded in Nashville, the album includes the leadoff track “You Made Me Feel For You,” penned by Crowell, and was born out of a need McNally had to pull herself up out of a particularly blue time in her life when she was dealing with a divorce and her mother’s terminal illness.
“I had no vim or vigor in me for a couple of years,” she admits. “But Rodney and I started this really wonderful thing of just lobbing song titles back and forth. And I just sat at a table and learned about a dozen tunes, my favorite covers, anything to spark a fire in this really dark turn.”
2 “I Ain’t Gonna Stand for It”
3 “Banshee Moan”
4 ”I Went to the Well”
5 ”Roll Away the Stone”
6 ”Black Haired Boy”
7 ”Low Rider”
8 ”Isn’t That Love?”
9 ”Stuff You Gotta Watch”
10 “Prayer in Open D”
11 “It Makes No Difference”
12 “Let’s Go Home”
About the Author
Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at lhollabaugh@musicrow.com.View Author Profile
