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Mary Black's first solo album (simply titled Mary Black) began the long time collaboration Mary and producer/guitarist Declan Sinnott. The Mary Black album contains a traditional and contemporary material, which has become the custom for Mary Black albums. Rose of Allendale, became Mary's first hit single in Ireland, reaching #14 on the Irish charts. The album also began Mary's tendency to record the songs of a new generation of Irish songwriters with the inclusion of Mick Hanly's Crusader, which tells the story of a woman (Robin Davidson) who walked across the Australian desert from Alice Springs to the ocean. The included version of Anachie Gordon is a re-recording of the song that first received extensive airplay in Ireland as a track off " The Christy Moore & Friends" album.

Although Declan Sinnott had been aware of Mary's growing reputation as a singer during the late 1970's, he had yet to experience her voice in person when, in 1981, he found himself in the middle of an impromptu " jam session " at " The Meeting Place " (a small Dublin pub) with Mary Black, Triona Ni' Dhomhnaill, and Linda Ronstadt. As Declan recalls, " After the woman had traded leads on Heart Like A Wheel and Buddy Holly's I Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore, there was no doubt that Mary Black was a great singer." In 1982 , Mary didn't have an accompanist, and Declan volunteered to back her up. This marked the birth of a unique musical partnership.

Shortly afterward, the Mary Black album was recorded in Dublin over a seven day period with Declan producing and playing on all tracks. Although Mary and Declan performed barely a handful of live gigs at the time, the album took off on its own and reached gold status in Ireland within a year of release.