Mary Haskell's album, Inspired: Standards - Good for the Soul is a varied collection of songs, from Irving Berlin's "How Deep is the Ocean" and the Carpenter's "I Won't Last a Day Without You" to Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Supposedly, the songs were chosen primarily because of their special importance to Haskell herself, and from the liner notes regarding the Dolly Parton song "Try," it does sound as if Haskell sought out each tune with particularity.
Inspired is the debut CD for Haskell, who has been a television actress and children's recording artist and sung at the Kennedy Center and with symphony orchestras across the country. It is her stated purpose to sing these "classic standards" from a fresh perspective that infuses them with universal messages of hope and encouragement. Haskell says:
I have always believed music has the power to inspire the heart and lift the soul. Often the original intention of the composer or lyricist can have a meaning that motivates beyond words. For me, both the original meaning and the messages of faith also heard in the lyrics are woven together in a way that will carry you back, and at the same time, move you forward in hope.
The album's title, of course, gives a clue as to Haskell's vision: she perceives the songs she sings as being "good for the soul." Songs of hope, love, joy, and faith - that's what she's after. While most of the songs were popularized by other artists, Inspired also offers two other songs - Parton's "Try" and "He is With You," from a new Broadway musical written by Kathie Lee Gifford. A Los Angeles-based inner city choir joins her on the gospel-infused "You'll Never Walk Alone/I Believe," which weaves two classic songs together, and another song, the R&B-flavored "You're All I Need to Get By." And atcress Patricia Heaton helps perform the duet "For Good," a song from the Broadway musical Wicked.
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