Maura O'Connell Releases New CD Naked With Friends

"A lot of people think every singer is someone's puppet," explains Maura O'Connell from her home in Nashville. "That they are not fully invested in the song -- that they are at the whim of a producer or a songwriter or a band. Singing has been denigrated like that for too long." Widely acclaimed throughout her career as a vocalist and interpreter of utmost grace and insight, O'Connell's latest album is a defiant, boldly undiluted statement on art of singing. Naked With Friends consists of thirteen tracks of singing -- and nothing more -- and is decisive evidence that singing is more than enough.

"The idea of doing an album like this has been with me a very long time," O'Connell continues. "In interviews over the years, I'm always being asked why I don't play an instrument to accompany myself, or why don't I write songs. I've gathered the consciousness that singing should be just fine, that it is a viable talent on its own."

Available now on iTunes from Sugar Hill Records, Naked With Friends features O'Connell both alone and alongside an array of vocalists representing her wide-ranging musical sensibility. Among the guest singers are Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss, Kate Rusby, Paul Brady, Mary Black, Jerry Douglas, Tim O'Brien, Darrell Scott, Aoife O'Donovan (Crooked Still), Sarah Dugas (The Duhks), Mairéad Ní Mhaorigh, Moya Brennan, Liam Bradley, Declan O'Rourke, and O'Connell's sister, Áine Derrane. "On this album," O'Connell says, "I just wanted to capture the feeling of joy that comes from people singing together."