Emilie Conway - Dear World album review

Dublin singer Emilie Conway's second album is a thoughtful collection of songs by the great eccentric of American songwriting, Alec Wilder. Wilder's compositions – Crazy of the Heart, The Wrong Blues, Who Can I Turn To? – may not be the best known of the songbook canon but amongst the cognoscenti he is treasured as one of the true originals of the 1940s and 1950s, with admirers as diverse as Frank Sinatra and Dave Liebman recording tributes to his name.

Conway's precise, unmannered delivery – which would not have been out of place in Wilder's day – pays due respect to the material, and a top-notch group, including pianist Johnny Taylor and saxophonist Brendan Doyle, provides the required sensitive support. emilieconway.ie