Mark Knopfler – Golden Heart (Music CD)

Mark Knopfler – Golden Heart (Music CD)
As the chief singer, songwriter and guitarist for Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler earned a reputation for crafting easily accessible albums with impeccable production values. Golden Heart proves Knopfler worthy of his reputation. Three of the tunes, recorded in Dublin, feature uillean pipes, violin, bouzouki, accordian and Paul Brady on whistle. Intensely atmospheric, these instruments support lyrics from a lost age. Another wonderful song, “Je Suis Desole”, is straight out of New Orleans, with Michel Doucet on fiddle and Sonny Landreth on steel guitar. However, Knopfler is not on a world-music binge; the bulk of Golden Heart, with its straightforward love songs and happy-to-be-alive shuffles, was recorded with studio musicians in London and Nashville. Of course, it doesn’t really matter where or with whom Golden Heart was recorded, because Knopfler’s warm and mellow electric guitar and voice saturate every track. –James Swift