Emmylou Harris--A String of Pearls

After 37 years in the business, almost 40 albums and 11 Grammy's later, Emmylou Harris is still not a completely recognizable name in the commercial music industry. Most people probably know some of her songs. They might recognize her voice or know her face from her commercial successes with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton's Trio. Some Dire Straits aficionados might recognize her voice from an album she recorded with Mark Knopfler. People might remember the Grammy she won for her album Wrecking Ball which was produced by U2's producer Daniel Lanois with U2's Larry Mullen playing drums. There are literally hundreds of ways you might remember or recognize Emmylou Harris but for the most part, if you stopped a regular Joe on the street and asked him for his favorite Emmylou song, he'd probably look at you, shrug his shoulders and tell you he doesn't know who you're talking about.

It's that seemingly relative level of obscurity that has allowed Emmylou Harris to retain the right to record anything and everything she wants to record without a backlash from record companies and stalwart fans. I actually discovered Emmylou Harris in 1980, shortly after her Roses in the Snow album was released. I was a die-hard rocker making my first forays into country music and I was fascinated with her vocal interpretations of these songs. This album buoyed new found fascination with how all music was related and how easy it was to hear strains of rock in what was so clearly a bluegrass medium. After delving into Emmylou's bluegrass album, I began digging into her previous albums and found myself mesmerized by this voice, once described by Linda Ronstadt as "cracked crystal".

Most of us who are familiar with the volume of music that Emmylou Harris has released over the last 37 years or so, know that the strength of her performance lies in her interpretation of the songs. Don't get me wrong, she's a strong songwriter in her own right and has become an even stronger writer as time has passed, but my 10 favorite songs by Emmylou Harris are going to be focused on the albums she put out released between the years of 1975-1989, when she was covering other artists' material, more than writing, and when she established herself as the "Queen of Country-Rock".

10. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues--Written by Rodney Crowell off the Blue Kentucky Girl album 1979. When I discovered this album, I was already in college and even though I wasn't anything remotely close to a "cowgirl", I could relate to the cowgirl that Emmylou was singing about because I was feeling just like that at the time, "She's a rounder I can tell you that, she can sing 'em all night too, she'll raise hell about the sleep she lost, even cowgirls get the blues."

9. On the Radio--Written by Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer off the White Shoes album 1983. When this cover was released, I was used to Emmylou covering a wide variety of artists but not in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought of Emmylou doing disco!! If you haven't heard this cover, you should. I was amazed at how something as simple as a vocal delivery could change the entire meaning of a song. Beautiful.

8. Boulder to Birmingham--Written by Emmylou Harris off the Pieces of the Sky 1975 in tribute to Gram Parsons. This song was a tribute to Emmylou's friend and mentor, Gram Parsons. The love and respect she had for Parsons is clearly demonstrated in the lyrics of this song. During my own personal times of sadness, I was drawn to Emmylou's vision of the soulful cleansing of the personal loss of a loved one. The lyrics of this song foreshadowed the wonderful songwriter Emmylou would become years later, "And the hardest part is knowing I'll survive. I have come to listen for the sound of the trucks as they move down out on ninety five. And pretend that it's the ocean coming down to wash me clean, to wash me clean."

7. Mill Worker--Written by James Taylor off the Evangeline album 1981. In my humble opinion, this is probably one of the best covers Emmylou's ever done. Emmylou takes Taylor's lyrics and steeps them in extra-ordinary sadness. When I heard her sing, "and it's me and my machine, for the rest of the morning, for the rest of the afternoon, for the rest of my life," I could literally see a young woman relegated to working at a clothing mill and growing old in front of her machine.

6. Evangeline--Written by Robbie Robertson off the Evangeline album 1981. Another outstanding cover song. A simple song with a minimalistic chord structure and vocal simplicity that makes it almost difficult to record. Emmylou's plaintive voice emotes the depth and sorrow Evangeline is feeling over the loss of her lover, right down to the point of madness. As a singer and guitar player, I love this song for its simplicity but appreciate the way Emmylou pours herself into the narrative.

5. Wayfaring Stranger--Unknown writer off the Roses in the Snow album 1980. This song was literally my first introduction to spiritual music that didn't sound like something I sang at Catholic Mass on Sundays. Of unknown origins, Wayfaring Stranger has been recorded countless times by other artists but this version continues to be my favorite rendition to this day. With her "Hot Band", featuring Ricky Skaggs on fiddle, guitar, and vocals, behind her, Emmylou sings of a wayfaring stranger who is merely passing time in this world as he readies himself to go "over Jordan" to see his mother and father. This song features bluegrass instrumentation at its finest with strong vocals and harmonies that pass fittingly between country, bluegrass, and spiritual music all at once.

4. Til I Gain Control Again--Written by Rodney Crowell off the Elite Hotel album 1975. Emmylou Harris' "Hot Band" was a veritable who's who of musicians, many of whom later became famous of their own right. One of the former "Hot Band" members was Rodney Crowell. Crowell, who is well known for his own music as well as his former marriage to Roseann Cash, is a prolific songwriter and Emmylou covered several of his songs over several of her albums. This is my favorite version of this song and has been responsible for carrying me through some personally tough times. Crowell's lyrics, "Out on the road that lies before me now, there are some turns where I will spin, I only hope that you can hold me now, till can gain control again" and Emmy's vocals make this song as meaningful to me today as it did in 1975.

3. Easy From Now On--Written by Susanna Clark and Carlene Carter off the Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town album 1978. Emmylou was starting to hit her stride with this album. The album made it all the way to #3 and there were three charting singles that came from this effort. Emmylou covered Delbert McClinton, Rodney Crowell, Dolly Parton, Utah Phillips, and Jesse Winchester, just to name a few songwriters, and alot of die-hard Emmylou fans would probably pick Crowell's Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight or Winchester's Defying Gravity as their favorite songs on this album and rightly so, they are wonderful songs and they are righteously performed. However, for me personally, Emmylou's interpretation of Easy From Now On is as good as it gets. Emmylou's beautifully clear voice and the haunting lyrics of a woman trying to come to terms with the fact that her lover has left her as she tries to talk herself into believing that getting over him will be easy, struck a chord with me as my personal relationship, at the time I discovered this album, was going sour. This was one of the songs that made me want to pick up a guitar so I could learn the chords and sing my sorrow out. This will always be one of my favorite songs to play and sing.

2. Pancho & Lefty--Written by Townes Van Zandt off the Luxury Liner album 1977. I almost feel like this I don't need to say much about this song other than write down the name and the songwriter. It is as close to perfection as one will find. The album pre-dated Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town and both albums serve to show that Emmylou Harris knew how to pick the right songs and right artists to cover. The "Hot Band" was HOT! The vocals were sure-fire and the artists Emmylou aligned herself with would prove to be legends in their own respective song-writing scenes. Pancho & Lefty was, and still is, an example of the craft of songwriting at the apex of its storytelling ability and Emmylou sings it as it is meant to be delivered. It isn't just a song, it's a story and her voice mesmerizes you as she invites you to sit down and listen to the lives of two Mexican bandidos, one of whom sells out his friend to the Federales. This song has been recorded by several artists and even made it to #1 in 1983 on the country chart when Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard recorded it but outside of Townes Van Zandt's own version, there is no recording that can touch Emmylou's version.

1. Ashes by Now--Written by Rodney Crowell off the Evangeline album 1981. We've all been there. We've stayed in relationships that we knew were bad for us. We knew they were lying, cheating, manipulating facts, manipulating us. Rodney wrote about it and Emmylou sang about it. We feel her pain. We know what she's going through and even though we all know she should walk away and cut her losses, we know she's going to go right back to that cheating bastard and get hurt again. How do we know? We just do. Listen to Emmylou as she tells us, "Baby, I can't go through this again. I don't need to go down more then I've already been, just like a wild fire you're running all over town, as much as you burn me baby I should be ashes by now." It's the unsung part that tells us that no matter how many times she gets burned, she's going back in for more. It's all for love and don't we all do that at one time or another?

There are so many other songs and albums I'd like to write about but this review would be so long, you would probably stop reading after these first 15 years of albums, especially when there is another 20 years' worth of albums to go. Don't overwhelm yourself, start with the early stuff and follow the trail of "cracked crystal". Get a glass of wine, put your noise cancelling headphones on, hit the lever on the recliner and give a listen to one of the legends of our time, Miss Emmylou Harris.

Sources:
http://emmylouharris.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmylou_Harris
http://www.emmylou.net/hotband.html