Emmylou Harris fans here?

I fell in love with Emmylou upon hearing Wrecking Ball(I'd had zero exposure before then). More specifically, her rendering of Steve Earl's "Goodbye" is amazing. Upon hearing that I was sold forever. What I find most amazing is that her own compositions are OUTSTANDING on many of her albums since Wrecking Ball. It's a shame she let others write so much of her music.

If you like Wrecking Ball, you owe it to yourself to try Red Dirt Girl(wow!) and as mentioned above-"Hard Bargain".

I was lucky enough to see her on the recent Wrecking Ball anniversary tour with Daniel Lanois backing her, and she sounded fantastic-as did the band backing her.

Anyway, great to see this thread.

 

you need to hear her and Steve duet on it. The Landmine benefit cd

 

I always wonder what kind of music Gram Parsons would have made if he had lived. While we will never know, I think part of his musical spirit lives on through Emmylou and her music. She's the greatest duet singer I've ever heard and always gives her very best effort, I've never heard her phone-in a performance like so many other singers.

 

The 3 cd box set Portrait is a nice overview of Emmylou's recordings up to about 1990.

 

I think these two statements represent your truest feelings about Emmylou Harris. I love seeing this kind of passion about music!!

For myself, my feelings are summed up by this:

This is no small compliment. Something I would say about very few other singers.

I came to know her music later than most, I was born in the late 70's. But I saw her perform a show a bit more than a year ago and was completely floored. What a powerful performance. I've gotten a number of her records since, but still scratching the surface. I can't wait to check out the live bluegrass one. This is why I like this forum.

 

Agreed. It's amazing what she does with her skills at harmonizing in a duet. As soon as I hear her voice on a song, especially unexpectedly, I get drawn into what she is doing. She's kind of old school in a way for being a singer who doesn't write much. She sure knows how to choose songs though. She has been a real champion for songwriters from the McGarrigle Sisters, Lucinda Williams, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Gillian Welch to name only a few. Add in the fans that weren't country fans before who went back to the original artists as a poster mentioned up thread and you have an artist who was very influential but she did it in a more subtle way than say....Prince. *

*not that there's anything wrong with Prince.

 

I love her "Racing In The Street."

 

Yeah -Emmylous influence is so big that it s hard to know were to start. But as I stated in my op - she is somehow taken for granted. I just can t imagine how lot s of todays country, alternate country, folk and other styles would have sounded without her input. Me being a native from Sweden can only name my fellow swedes in the much praised First aid kit. They even got a song called Emmylou. And those talented sisters are only in their early twenties.

 

Red dirt girl is another incredible album. Similar soundscape as Wrecking ball but filled with good to great Emmylou originals . Guess she is a perfektionist and thats why her own writing is sparse. But when she chooses to she is a very comperent songwriter.

 

I absolutely love her! The early stuff right through Old Yellow Moon. Always look forward to anything she's involved with and Wrecking Ball is one of my favorite albums ever.

 

Yeah, totally agree. I was at the Real Live Roadrunning concert and almost fell asleep.

"Angel Band" is perhaps the best bluegrass gospel album ever recorded IMO.

I find her a bit uneven overall. Tremendously inspiring at her best, meh at her worst (never truly bad, just boring), often on the same record.

 

Agree about Angel band-a wondruous album. Don t agree that she is Inverness -actually she has one of the most consistent I can think of. But thats my opinion

 

This looks like a good place to mention that Barnes and Noble currently has her Original Albums Series Vol 1, that's the first five studio albums, for $9.99.

Pieces of the Sky, Elite Hotel, Luxury Liner, Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town, and Blue Kentucky Girl, all for ten bucks. Pretty good deal....

 

I'm not sure I would say that she is taken for granted. She sings on so many albums by other people. She always been the closer at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass since the beginning and while that might not be the same as a Grammy, there are a lot of talented people playing that three day Fest yet she is the last one on stage. I think it's more about the difference in her idea of PR vs. some other artists of similar type. I'm sure she could ramp things up if she wanted but maybe she chooses to have a quieter life. With PR comes a lot of handshakes and interviews and other things people dream up to get ahead.

 

That s a bargain- I have the Rhino reissues of all the these albuns. Released many years ago they have great soundquality, good linernotes and some bonus-tracks. A real treasure

 

From Red dirt girl-the Emmylou penned Tragedy -Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen on backing vokals. Brilliant song from a brilliant album filled with Emmylou originals

 

Are those 5 the last remasters with bonus tracks?

 

While I don't have that actual set, I don't believe Rhino typically includes the latest remasters in their bargain compilations.

 

I don't know which mastering, but there are no bonus tracks with this set.

By the way, her Original Album series vol 2 includes Thirteen and Evangeline, previously unreleased on CD, I don't know if they've been released separately since.

 

I will second that. Live at the Ryman is Emmylou at her best.

 

Love her stuff.

 

Sadly the Ryman album is one of two or three of her albums I don't have. In the early 90s I was able to pick up a lot of her lps used at $3-$5 each in near mint condition. I must not have seen that one at the time.

 

Others have mentioned how good she is at duets (with Mark Knopfler, for example). She's also great at trios, not just the famous ones with Dolly and Linda, but the performance of Sonny with Mary Black and Dolores Keane (on the "Bringing It All Back Home" collection) is wonderful.

But getting back to duets, here's my favorite: with Don Williams, singing Townes van Zandt's If I Needed You:

 

This is the duet to end all:


It's so beautiful that I almost cried when I heard it. Roy just nails this. Emmylou is one of two women (the other is kd lang) who could keep up with him.