Cara Dillon is the debut solo album from the Irish folk artist Cara Dillon

Cara Dillon

Cara Dillon is an Irish folk singer. In 2001, she launched her career as a solo artist in the UK with the eponymous Cara Dillon album...

. It was recorded at The Firs, producer/partner Sam Lakeman's parents' house. There were also recordings made in County Donegal, Ireland. The album was mixed by John Reynolds

John Reynolds (musician)

John Reynolds is a record producer. He was the first husband of singer Sinéad O'Connor; they have one child, Jake. Reynolds, formerly a drummer for Jah Wobble, met O'Connor and recorded her first album, The Lion and the Cobra...

 (Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

, Damien Dempsey

Damien Dempsey

Damien Dempsey is an Irish singer and songwriter who mixes traditional Irish folk with contemporary lyrics to deliver social comment on the positive and negative aspects arising from Ireland's Celtic Tiger society.-Early life:...

). It contained nine traditional songs Dillon had known since her schooldays and also had two original songs "Blue Mountain River" (which was released to radio in Ireland) and "I Wish I Was". The album was released to critical acclaim, earning Dillon four BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

 nominations, two of which she won, a Hot Press Irish Music Award and charting in the top 10 of several music critics polls, including HMV Choice Reader's Poll

HMV

His Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...

. The opening track of the album, Black Is The Colour, won Best Traditional Track at the BBC Folk Awards and has proved to be her most widely acclaimed song to date, experiencing a revival in 2006 in the form of a successful trance remix single by Derry

Derry

Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

 based DJs 2Devine. Throughout 2001 and 2002, Dillon toured the album in the UK, Ireland and Europe, and several dates with WOMAD took her to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

and Australia.

Track listing

All songs traditional/arranged by Dillon/Lakeman, except: 7 & 8 (written by Dillon/Lakeman)

1. "Black Is The Colour" – 4:04
2. "Donald Of Glencoe" – 5:32
3. "Craigie Hill" – 4:45
4. "Green Grows The Laurel" – 4:30
5. "The Lark In The Clear Air" – 2:24
6. "The Lonesome Scenes Of Winter" – 4:48
7. "Blue Mountain River" – 3:46
8. "I Wish I Was" – 3:14
9. "The Maid Of Culmore" – 3:09
10. "She's Like The Swallow" – 3:20
11. "I Am A Youth That's Inclined To Ramble" – 6:07