Black Returns to Irish Roots

Irish singer Mary Black’s last album of new material, 1997’s “Shine,” was a generic-sounding, pop-oriented bust, but on Sunday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Black reclaimed her Irishness. In a welcome return to form, she and her five-piece band spent two hours doing what they do best: playing unpolished, traditional, folksy fare from the heart.

A rich potpourri of acoustic-oriented instruments provided the perfect soundtrack for Black’s emotion-filled ballads of national pride, hard times and love won and lost. Black, who relies exclusively on outside material, captured the emotional thrust in song after song. It wasn’t unusual to see her expertly sing such staples as the traditional ballad “The Holy Ground,” Phil Colclough’s soaring, inspirational “Song for Ireland” and Noel Brazil’s bittersweet immigrant song, “Ellis Island.”

But the affable Black also had several pleasant surprises in store. Inspired by the recent peace talks in Northern Ireland, the brand-new “Give a Little Now” was a heartfelt, positive-minded anthem of hope, reconciliation and compromise.

The program’s only missteps were the two selections from “Shine.” The Joni Mitchell-like “Nobody Lives Without Love” failed to move beyond the obvious sentiment of its title, and Paul Brady’s “I Will Be There” is a blatant copy of U2’s “With or Without You.”

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* Mary Black performs Thursday at Royce Hall, UCLA, 8 p.m. $19 to $34. (310) 825-2101.