Emmylou Harris has been a favorite of mine since the 70’s. She’s been off the top ten list for awhile. Nevertheless, the albums she records are very inventive and she explores a lot of material. She releases a new album every few years. She’s not your typical country singer.
Emmylou just released Hard Bargain. Her voice is still amazing. She always find these great songwriters. This time it’s a Canadian, Ron Sexsmith that wrote the title track.
I’d like to avoid the zombie jokes and started this new thread. A new thread makes sense since she has a couple new albums. All I Intended to Be came out in 2008.
discography
Sure, Emmylou is awesome. I confess I’m not really familiar with the last couple records. I don’t see chart position as a recommendation on her work, given the schism over Wrecking Ball.
Wrecking Ball was pretty experimental for a country artist. There’s a few songs I like from that album. I deleted the ones I didn’t like from my mp3 player. Pure country fans didn’t like it at all.
That’s one thing I admire about Emmylou. She’s done several styles over the years. Her first three albums featured the Hot Band and was really country rock. Then she did pure Bluegrass on* Roses in the Snow* with a very young Ricky Skaggs singing backup vocals and on guitar/fiddle. She had a dry spell from about 1982-1995 and then came back even stronger with these new albums.
One of my all time favorite albums is White Shoes. It features some rock songs that Emmylou and the Hot Band used to warm up the crowds.
I like Red Dirt Girl too. It came out in 2000 and is traditional country/folk. She won a Grammy for it in 2001.* Red Dirt Girl* is one of the few albums that Emmylou wrote herself.
I really, really want to see Emmylou live. It kills me that I didn’t get to see her touring with Mark Knopfler a few years ago.
The postman just delivered my copy of Hard Bargain. I had it preordered a few months ago. Amazon must have shipped it the same day it was released to the stores.
Just popped into my stereo and it’s sounding great so far. The deluxe edition is $3 more and came with a 2nd dvd disk. I’ll watch it tonight after work.
Gosh yes, been a fan since 1980 or so, whenever she started getting a lot of airplay on the C&W stations. The breadth of her talent…the willingness to try different styles and forms of music are simply amazing. The music and the voice just seem to get better, and the lady herself has aged beautifully.
It’s difficult to pick a favorite song, she’s done so many good ones. Boulder to Birmingham is an all-time favorite, especially the version with the Hot Band. And I’ve always liked In my Dreams from the “White Shoes” album. And Rose of Cimarron and… Saw her once in concert, years ago when she was touring with the Nash Ramblers.
A current favorite is her collaberation with Willie Nelson and Danial Lanois on The Maker which actually appeared on Willie’s Teatro album. This song is quite a piece of work, with Lanois’ impassioned guitar, Willie’s distinctive phrasing and Emmy Lou’s excellent backing vocals.
Saw an interesting comment on one of ELH’s fan sites, from an (apparently) younger fan…“She’s smooookin’ hot, and I don’t care HOW old she is!” I can applaud the sentiment.
SS
I first saw Emmylou when she accompanied Gram Parsons to Texas. Neil Young & Linda Ronstadt were in town for a show at one of the big halls; they dropped by one night & joined the band on stage. Later, I saw Emmylou with various bands, featuring such young hotshots as Rodney Crowell & Albert Lee. She’s made a fine career by discovering new songwriters & hiring bands that can really rock–then doing stone bluegrass & reaching back into the vaults for Louvin Brothers tunes. Neither approach fits the Nashville singles market–but she’s made a lot of fans over the years.
I just checked out the new album on Rhapsody; need to listen again. The arrangements seem to be the rather misty, non-country sound that fits her voice; still lovely, it was never very strong. And I’ve read she wrote most of the songs–a bit of a change. One is about Gram, of course. And there’s one for Kate McGarrigle, who died last year.
I saw Emmylou a couple times. Once she opened for Willie Nelson, but we went to see ELH. I even ran into her at the break when she was casually walking around the venue. No one even noticed her as she had changed into plain clothes. We exchanged a few sentences…
She’s written most of the songs on her last 4 albums, since Red Dirt Girl (not counting the Mark Knopfler collaboration, where he wrote most of them). Before that, though, it was rare for her to write more than a couple per album.
The new album is stunning, my favourite track is probably “My Name Is Emmet Till”, a sad and beautiful song from the point of view of the famous murder victim.
The last but one, All I Intended To Be, is probably the closest in style to her old stuff, and on re-checking she only wrote 5 songs on it. That’s still more than on her early albums though.
The other albums from Wrecking Ball toAll The Roadrunning, the Mark Knopfler collaboration, are much more rock influenced, but still brilliant in my opinion. The new album is a mix, but more country in style than some of the recent stuff.
I recall around 1990 I got very worried. Emmylou went all Acoustic with an album At the Ryman. Her acoustic band was the Nash Ramblers. She toured with them for a few years.
I thought her career was done. Acoustic music is fine, but it’s not exactly cutting edge or new. I figured she’d plod along, singing Bluegrass and other classic country until she retired. I read in interviews then, that she wanted to rest her voice. Singing with an Acoustic band is much easier. I guess it worked.
Suddenly in 2000 she explodes back on the scene with Red Dirt Girl (and a Grammy) and she’s returned to country rock with the Mark Knopler collaborations. Singing with the guy from Dire Straits. Now that’s cool. No more acoustic band for Emmylou.
I should have been more clear.* At the Ryman* is a great traditional album. As a one time project it was a great idea. My concern grew when Emmylou continued touring with the Nash Ramblers for years afterward. Thank goodness she eventually returned to a conventional electric band.
I had it preordered a few months ago. Amazon must have shipped it the same day it was released to the stores.
with the Mark Knopler collaborations.