Mary Dolan

Press "Armed with a voice that is equal parts grit and grace, this San Diegan embraces the intricacies of life in her lyrics and holds them together with infectious melodies." Sirens "Mary makes you feel like there is no stage - you become something more personal than just an audience. That is the key to Mary Dolan, the closeness." The Literary Whore TAYLOR GUITARS Mary Dolan "So begins the journey The journey within this heart of mine And you're a part of it."

"Armed with a voice that is equal parts grit and grace, this San Diegan embraces the intricacies of life in her lyrics and holds them together with infectious melodies."
Sirens

"Mary makes you feel like there is no stage - you become something more personal than just an audience. That is the key to Mary Dolan, the closeness."
The Literary Whore

TAYLOR GUITARS
Mary Dolan
"So begins the journey
The journey within this heart of mine
And you're a part of it."

It's a fitting way for San Diego native Mary Dolan to open (Another) Holy Day. Her fervent, soulful voice seems to be connecting with the memory of a past lover, but its intimacy beckons like a heartfelt personal invitation to share the deep passion and spirituality of her album's journey. Her life's musical journey began as the eighth child in an Irish-American household filled with music. As a girl, Dolan often sang to the accompaniment of her mother's piano playing, and for the children's choir at church. Her older siblings had learned guitar, but she took piano lessons before eventually switching to guitar. She went on to study classical voice and music theory in college, and after a short stint directing church choirs in San Diego, realized that her musical passions lay elsewhere.

Playing guitar and singing at an open mike night provided her musical epiphany. She soon joined the San Diego coffeehouse circuit and enmeshed herself in the strong local songwriting community. Her talents have since yielded local music award nominations and earned her opening spots for performers such as Ani DiFranco, Catie Curtis, and Huey Lewis & the News.

(Another) Holy Day, Dolan's third album, brims with religious imagery without being about religion. Or perhaps it is; love, she seems to be saying, is the truest religion. On "You Freed Me", Dolan's raw, rapturous vocals testify that "through the power of love I was healed and baptized". "Cadence" resonates as an anthem that liberates Dolan from constricting dogmas and mass conformity: "This cadence is not my tune/Step aside, give me some room/To walk across that line so clear/I'm leaving here???." Dolan's voice ignites each song, investing it completely with her soul's strengths and vulnerabilities, playing with vocal dynamics that segue from tender to torrid.

Dolan enlisted the talents of several musical all-stars on this project, including legendary songwriter Bernie Taupin (Elton John), and guitarist Jimmy Crespo (Aerosmith, Rod Stewart), whose superb guitar leads match the passion of Dolan's voice. As the San Diego Union Tribune noted, "[Ani] DiFranco couldn't have picked a better opening act than local singer-songwriter Mary Dolan???"


BEACON NEWS, Bart Mendoza

A fixture of San Diego's music scene from the early 1990s
through the turn of the century, singer-songwriter Mary Dolan
took three years off to start a family.
"At first it was easy not to perform," she said. "I was kind
of burned out on music at that time."
After a serious illness in 2007, which landed her in the hos-
pital, she began to reassess her musical career.
"After that, I realized how important music was for me,
and writing and performing became necessary," Dolan said.
It was an open-mic night at Portugalia that lured her back on
stage.
"I was nervous singing just two songs each Tuesday night for
that first month.," she recalled. "I was shaking and I'd forget
words and chords. But with the encouragement of the fellow
musicians at the event and that of other important people in my
life I've been performing again for about five months."
A native San Diegan, Dolan always considered herself
a performer.
"I toyed with other career ideas like nurse, personal therapist,
nun." she said. "I always sensed that I was supposed to be of
service somehow. With music I've been lucky enough to do
something I love and touch a few lives at the same time."
To date, Dolan has released seven albums, notching up several
siginificant co-writing credits in the process, including songs
penned with Aerosmith guitarist Jimmy Crespo and Elton John
lyricist Bernie Taupin.
Though Dolan ahs toured extensively in the past, she won't be
doing so to promote "In Bloom."
"I loved being on the road, but I have a family and a day job,"
she said.
While some consider life on the road a hardship, Dolan said she
found it invigorating.
"I don't recall any hard parts. Bumps along the way, maybe,"
she said.
She mentions a car breakdown in a snowstorm...a speeding ticket...
and a car accident...as a few of the negatives from her life on the road,
but she maintains it was worth it.
"I really liked playing for different people every night, being in a
different town every day, seeing strange and wonderful things all over
this country. I made some good friends out there," she said.
Now approaching the second decade of her career as a musician,
Dolan is happy with the path that music has led her down.
"The best thing about being a musician is being able to do something
I love and have someone else benefit from it as well," she said. "I mean,
I love eating pizza, too, but who besides me beneifts?" she said.
For more information visit www.marydolan.com or
www.myspace.com/marydolansandiego