Great Music from Emmylou Harris

I have gone far too long without showcasing the great talents of the amazing Emmylou Harris. I have so much respect for her for so many different reasons, the first and foremost being her incredible gift, that gorgeous singing voice. She has a remarkable, crystalline tone, seemingly never veering off whether singing harmony or taking the lead on the melody. That has been the case for the last five decades, and shows no signs of it being different any time soon. Raised in a military family, Harris moved around a bit after being born in Birmingham, Alabama. While attending college in Greensboro, North Carolina, her interest in music grew, studying the music of the great Folk artists like Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. She left school to pursue a career in music in New York City, and soon found herself a single mother, having divorced her first husband. She moved back with her parents, now living in a suburb of Washington, DC. After a time to settle in, Harris began performing once again, and it wasn't long before she was noticed. Soon she was working with Gram Parsons, touring and recording with him. This was really Emmylou's introduction to Country music, as Parsons was noted for his Country, stylized with Blues and Rock influences. However, when Parsons died in 1973 of an accidental overdose, Harris was deeply hurt, but translated that into her music, writing "Boulder To Birmingham", an early signature song. But it was also time for a new direction for Harris, and industry insiders took notice of her work, and soon she was under contract with Reprise Records. And that lead to her solo debut, 'Pieces of the Sky'.

'Pieces of the Sky' was released in 1975, and was a stunningly beautiful album. There is such purity in Harris' vocals, and such an honesty in her delivery, it is hard not to fall in love. One of the great songs included on the album was "Too Far Gone", written by Billy Sherrill, best known for his work with the great Tammy Wynette. This is a gorgeous song, and was her first single. Although it didn't connect with the public in the 1975 release, it was re-released in 1978, and made it to #13 on the Billboard Country chart.

In December of 1975, Harris' sophomore effort hit the stores. 'Elite Hotel' was a great collection that featured two #1 singles on the Country charts, and three that made it to the Top 3. The first was "Together Again", written by the legendary Buck Owens. "One of These Days" made it to #3, solidifying Emmylou's position as a star on the rise.

The third single off the album was "Sweet Dreams", the great song written by Don Gibson, and originally made famous by the immortal Patsy Cline. While many would try to stay away from the shadow cast by Cline, it was not a problem for Harris, whose great version made it to #1 on the Billboard Country chart.

But sometimes, it is not just the chart-topping songs that take notice. Emmylou garnered attention when she recorded "Here, There and Everywhere", part of the great catalog of Lennon/McCartney songs, although it is rumored to be written by Paul McCartney, and credited to him and his Beatles partner. It appeared on the 1966 album, 'Revolver' before it was a part of the album by Harris. But Harris gave her own interpretation of the song, and showed off her ability to take a standard not written for the Country audience, yet give it new life.

In 1979, Harris released 'Blue Kentucky Girl', her fifth studio album with Warner Brothers/Reprise. Between the fourth, 'Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town' and 'Blue Kentucky Girl', she moved toward a more traditional Country direction. She also enlisted some of her friends to support her on the album, including Tanya Tucker, Don Everly, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt.

And while Emmylou continued to write and record her own music, she never stayed away from taking on an older song. One of those songs was the iconic "Save The Last Dance For Me", written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, and made famous in the 1960 recording by The Drifters, featuring the lead vocals of Ben E. King.

I will admit I first came into contact with her on her work with Linda Ronstadt, one of my all-time favorite vocalists. She would often sing harmonies on her albums, a wonderful collaboration. And it is hard to ignore the Emmylou joined forces with Ronstadt and Dolly Parton to release two albums billed as Trio. There was some amazing work done there. For a great collection of Emmylou's early music, check out 'Emmylou Harris Anthology: The Warner/Reprise Years' on iTunes and Amazon. To learn more about her, visit her official website.

Contemporary Blue

Clockwise: Alison Moyet; Trio, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton & Emmylou Harris; Cyndi Lauper; and Bette Midler.

Sometimes a modern-day girl can get the blues, you know? I know I've featured singers from the 1930s and 40s on Saturday nights, but this collection of ladies proves that the blues haven't gone away. And every woman has a right to sing the blues. I will begin with the woman who actually was the inspiration for this post, Alison Moyet. I have been a fan of Alison since her days recording with Vince Clarke in Yazoo. Once they both moved on, I continued to love her solo music, and the 2004 album The Voice was no exception. The album was a collection of smokey songs sung form the heart. She included a song written by Declan Patrick MacManus, someone we might better know by his stage name, Elvis Costello. "Almost Blue" is a gorgeous song, and Moyet delivers it perfectly. Here is a live performance of the song.



Sadly, if you are in the US, you can only find The Voice as an import, and no downloads. I was insane for the music put out by Trio, a project combining the talents of Dolly Parton, Emylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt. Their voices were spectacular together, and the music they sang was a perfect combination of nostalgia, Country, Bluegrass, and Pop. One of the songs they sung was the fantastic "I Feel The Blues Moving In", written by Bluegrass legend Del McCoury. This was on their Trio II album.



You can find Trio II on iTunes and Amazon. Honestly, you can buy the 1987 Trio album, or the 1999 follow-up, and you will be very happy. Next up, we move to a song recorded for an album released in 1972 by Bette Midler. She was just starting out her career, and really beginning to turn the heads of people in the industry. And not just for her outrageous live performances, but because her talent was just so obvious, it would not be denied. It is impossible to deny her recording of "Am I Blue", a song written by Harry Akst and Grant Clarke in 1929, is fantastic, and still sounds perfect forty years later.



You can find The Divine Miss M on iTunes and Amazon. For the final song tonight, I call on a singer who is really a national treasure, at least in my book. Cyndi Lauper came to the attention of the world in 1983 with the release of She's So Unusual, the album that introduced her to us all. Whether it was "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" or "True Colors" or "Time After Time", all of which Lauper had a hand in writing, she showed herself to be a great artist. Fast-forward twenty-seven years, and Cyndi is still blowing us away with the release of Memphis Blues, a brilliant collection of blues songs recorded in Memphis. The album was almost unanimously listed as one of the Top 10 albums of the year by music critics world-wide. She recorded "How Blue Can You Get", a song credited to jazz critic Leonard Feather and his wife, Jane Feather, although many believe it was just Jane. A blues classic, the song has ben recorded by the greats, including BB King. Once again, Cyndi proved her talent was endless, as she sings the song with the great Jonny Lang.



You can find Memphis Blues on iTunes and Amazon. If you don't have it, you should!

Sunday Morning with Linda Ronstadt

I have long thought that Linda Ronstadt is one of the more spectacular voices of my generation. So it is surprising I have yet to included Linda in my regular Sunday morning feature. But I will make that up now. Linda never had a problem bringing her all to just about any genre of music. Prisoner In Disguise, her 1975 release, is a prime example of this. She brought the Country, the Rock, and the soulful philosophic/theological questions in songs like "Many Rivers To Cross", the amazing song by Jimmy Cliff.



Also off the same album was the gorgeous and majestic "The Sweetest Gift". On the track, she sings it as a duet with Emmylou Harris, and together they sound like an angelic choir. They deliver on the song written by James. B. Coasts in 1942 like few others could, with a simple beauty and the courage to sing from the heart.



You can purchase Prisoner In Disguise from iTunes and Amazon.

Torch Songs, 60s Style

Clockwise: Judy Collins; Joni Mitchell; Joan Baez; and Linda Ronstadt.

Big Band and Jazz singers were not the only artists allowed to sing a good torch song. After all, what makes a torch song? Love gone wrong, that's what it's all about. And in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was the time of free love, and plenty of that free love went wrong. Like in 1967, when the stunning Judy Collins sang about a Hard Lovin' Loser, written by Richard Farina, and originally recorded by Richard and his wife Mimi, who was also the sister of Joan Baez. Check out Judy singing the song live, with the assistance of the very talented Tom and Dickie Smothers, on their show.



Next, I thought of the angelic voice of Joni Mitchell, and after side-stepping the obvious choice of Both Sides Now, I made my way to a gorgeous song off he 1971 album Blue. It was said that the song really is a discussion of the end of Joni's love affair with Graham Nash, of Crosby, Still & Nash fame. So here is Joni Mitchell singing A Case Of You, a performance on the BBC in 1974.



In 1974, Linda Ronstadt released the brilliant album Heart Like A Wheel. The album combined Rock, Country, Blues, and Pop like few had been able to do before, and it was incredible. It included a cover of a Hank Williams song that few could sing like Ronstadt could. And did. Here is Linda Ronstadt singing I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) featuring the beautiful vocals of Emmylou Harris.



For many, Joan Baez is the Queen of Folk music. I have to say that would include me. She starting performing in the coffeehouses in the 1950s, and continued for the following decades, making memorable music all the time. On the New York City circuit, she performed with some of the greats of the business, including Bob Dylan. The following clip is Diamonds & Rust, inspired by her relationship with Dylan in the early 1960s. It is an amazing song. Here is the Queen of Folk singing her own song, Diamonds & Rust.

Ladies Take On The Beatles

Clockwise: Karen Carpenter; Marianne Faithfull; Emmylou Harris; and Judy Collins.

After listening once again to the first entry of this post, I was inspired to seek out other covers of Beatles songs, and found some incredible performances by many gorgeous voices. There are way more than the four that I post here, but picked these because of the purity of the voice, and the honesty they brought to the table that made them stand out. So I will start with Karen Carpenter's haunting version of Ticket To Ride. The song, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, was a hit for the Beatles in 1965. In 1969, it became the first song Richard and Karen Carpenter had on the Billboard charts.



You can find Ticket To Ride, both the single and the album, on iTunes and Amazon.

A stalwart on the folk scene for the last 50 years, playing in coffee houses since the early 1960s. In 1967, she released her first album, In My Life. It had songs from some of the top writers of the 20th century, from Bob Dylan, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, Leonard Cohen, Jacques Brel, Randy Newman, Donovan, and, of course, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. In fact, the stunning singer used the Beatles tune as the title track. Here is Judy Collins singing the great ballad, In My Life.



You can find In My Life, both the single and the album, on iTunes and Amazon.

The stunning Marianne Faithful sang a beautiful version of the Lennon-McCartney song Yesterday in 1965. This was before she was having affairs with The Rolling Stones, before she discovered the joys and pitfalls of the 60s drug culture. It was when she was a beautiful girl, with a lovely voice, singing an early cover of a song that is perhaps the most covered song in the history of recorded music.



You can find Yesterday, part of her Greatest Hits collection, on iTunes and Amazon.

At times, there is just a very fine line between Country and Folk, a line that has often been blurred. You could easily say that an artist like Emmylou Harris has not only crossed that line, but made it useless. The brilliance of her tone, the amazing phrasing she has, all makes her an amazing artist. And in 1975, she released an album that included Here, There and Everywhere, a song written by Paul McCartney, but credited to the Lennon-McCartney catalog. Elite Hotel was an amazing album, and the cover was just beautiful.



You can find Elite Hotel or the single Here, There & Everywhere, on iTunes and Amazon.

Sunday Worship - Hobo's Meditation

If there are angels singing in heaven, I am betting they have voices that sound a lot like Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. Almost 20 years ago, these amazing ladies were brought together for the Trio project.