This charmingly eclectic album may be
O'Connell's
best. Working with producer
Jerry Douglas
, O'Connell finds sympathetic accompaniment on all these songs, whether its the piano and arco bass on the gently painful
"So Soft Your Goodbye,"
the small-combo swing on "Love to Learn," or the full-band acoustic pop on "Still Hurts Sometimes." Though
O'Connell
records songs by Nashville stalwarts like
Pat McLaughlin
and
Tom Kimmel
, her ear for a wider range of material makes
Blue Is the Color of Hope
such a joy. "Bad News at the Best of Times," by rockers
Paul Carrack
John Wesley Harding
, is a real find, and
cover of
Mary-Chapin Carpenter
's "It Don't Bring You" is simply gorgeous. ~ Brian Mansfield