[1] "Atlantic Blue" was written as a tribute to the 84 men who died when the Ocean Ranger, a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit, sank in Canadian waters on 15 February 1982.

[2] Six singles were released from Cryer's Paradise, five of which made appearances in Canada's RPM 100 Country Tracks chart: Upon its release, Susan Beyer of The Ottawa Citizen noted Hynes' "extraordinary lyrical gift", describing the songs on Cryer's Paradise as "short stories, full of the precisely right emotional accuracy of Alistair MacLeod and the heart and love of Rita MacNeil".

[8] Greg Burliuk of The Kingston Whig-Standard commented that it "showcase[s] an artist with a nice smoky voice and a deft touch with the lyrics, but whose music is sometimes predictable".

[9] James O'Connor of The Winnipeg Sun described the album as a "quirky fusion of Newfoundland folk and Nashville fun" which results in an "engaging entry into the country race".

He noted that although the "honest, homey tales breathe naivete", both "nimble picking" and "thoughtful production" work to "pull the [album] far enough off the Rock to be fairly presentable to the mainstream".