Down the Crooked Road: My Autobiography

To get the most out of this book, the reader should be a great fan of Mary Black and/or Irish music. "Down the Straight Road" would be a much more appropriate title for the book because Mary Black seems to have been heading in the right direction all of her life. She is a charming, simple woman and the same can be said for her writing style. We can be grateful that no editor's red pen changed her "Me-and-Joe's" or got her pronouns to agree. Her voice is authentic as she tells of the almost charmed life that she, her siblings, and her offspring have experiences in both their personal lives and their musical careers. I most enjoyed the early chapters of the book in which Mary paints a realistic portrait of life for an average "Dub" in the '60s and '70s. The remainder of the book catalogues the album recordings and gigs, as well as the Irish, British, and American musical greats whose paths crossed Ms. Black's "crooked road."