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 and
John Wesley Harding, is a real find, and
O'Connell's cover of
Mary-Chapin Carpenter's "It Don't Bring You" is simply gorgeous. ~ Brian Mansfield