Mary McPartlan follows her multi award winning release of 2004, The Holland Handkerchief (Mojo Folk Album of 2004, Meteor nominated) with another blockbuster release, Petticoat Loose.

Mary McPartlan's second CD, entitled Petticoat Loose, will be officially launched on February 21, 2008 at 8.30pm in the Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin. Mary will announce details of her upcoming Petticoat Loose tour shortly.

The new album from Mary Mc Partlan entitled 'Petticoat Loose' represents her association with many high profile artists in the traditional music world and her lifelong friendship with the poet and playwright Vincent Woods. With the assistance of an Arts Council Deis award, Mary pursued the project which culminated in a new body of work which includes six new pieces of music. Three songs were written by Vincent Woods and set to music by Mairtín O'Connor including the title track 'Petticoat Loose'. Two old Irish pieces originating from her native Drumkeerin were set to music by Brendan O'Regan and a new song in the Irish language from Connemara, music and lyrics by Padraig Ó hAoláin, translated by Tim Dennehy.

The CD represents her close association with the NUI Galway 'Orbsen' choir and the Romanian string quartet in residence in NUI Galway, ConTempo. The crafting, development and recording of all the material comes from her long association with the multi-instrumentalist and producer Seamie O'Dowd. Many of the tracks on the CD are deeply personal in their lyrics and are autobiographical, representing her life to the present day in their poetic and political expression.

Artists appearing on Mary's CD include Mairtín O'Connor, Brendan O'Regan, Gary O'Briain, Frankie Gavin, Cathal Hayden, Rick Epping, Eddie Lynch, Johnny 'Ringo' McDonagh to name but a few. The impeccable backing vocals came from Ruth Dillon, Bernie O'Mahony, Mary Staunton, Gemma and Laura McPartlan and her daughters Mairéad and Meabh Noonan.

The album was recorded and engineered in Kenny Ralph's Sunstreet studios in Tuam and is due for official release mid February 2008. There are thirteen tracks on the CD.

Copperplate is very proud to have this title on our roster and to help it achieve its full potential will be supporting this release with a full-scale promotional mail out to media and retail.

Also available from Copperplate by Mary McPartlan: The Holland Handkerchief

Press Reviews

Managing the transition from a successful first album to a second one isn't easy. Performers, seasoned ones included, sometimes don't get it right, some even falling by the wayside. Fortunately, this hasn't happened to Mary McPartlan, for her new CD Petticoat Loose is simply splendid, and a step-up from its predecessor The Holland Handkerchief - which was impressive enough...

So why is this CD so good? Well, just mentioning here some highs from the thirteen tracks should give an answer. Mary's voice is so versatile for a start. It's very personal, opening with Vincent Woods' song Sanctuary, celebrating her home place with its good and bad sides. Her voice echoes the old and the newer Ireland too, as in Cumha, (a Parting Sorrow) where lyricist Padraig Ó hAolain and translator Tim Dennehy have cleverly woven various Irish cultural signifiers into the text such as 'the murder machines'.

There are other impressive tracks like the delightful Kiss The Moon, all about life and hope, and the similarly jaunty Sios Faoi Braoch Loch Aileann (Down By Loch Aileann Side); sticking with the Irish language, there's likewise the splendid Caoine Sheain Mhic Searraigh (Lament for John McSherry). There's Generous Lover' magisterial and perfect for Mary's voice, and there's a beautifully produced Victor Jara; within this one, there are unspoken echoes of Mary's own one-time beleaguered community. The title track, Petticoat Loose is yet another perfect vehicle for her with its complex arrangements and strange menacing lyrics. The CD has only one weak track, Lume Lume, a lugubrious Romanian drinking song. The sleeve notes talk of how the 'exuberant strings' of the musicians 'let themselves go' in this: sadly, exuberance and people letting themselves go is the last thing that's manifested.

This issue leads to my one concern - the CD's sometimes erratic sleeve notes, including poor proofing, eg Proinn Duignan and Prionn Duignan. Also, only some of the lyrics are printed, but not all. Why? The two Gaelic songs aren't translated (and their local Irish is already difficult...) whilst Lume Lume's words simply aren't there, still less explained. Similarly, the notes veer from the insightful ("Mary can