My favorite Emmylou album

Review Score: (10/10)
Emmylou has recorded many brilliant albums throughout her career but the string of albums that she recorded between 1975 and 1980 are ultimately her most important legacy. Everybody has his or her favorite - this is mine, perhaps because traditional country is what I like best, and that's what this album is filled with.

The set opens with Sister's coming home, an up-tempo song written by Willie Nelson, on which Tanya Tucker joins Emmylou for an incredible duet. I love Willie's music, but Emmylou and Tanya's version of this song is far superior to Willie's original.

Next comes the superb ballad, Beneath still waters, a hitherto obscure George Jones song, which provided Emmylou with a country number one hit. Even better is Save the last dance for me, also a huge country hit for Emmylou. I've heard countless versions of this song including the original Drifters version as well as brilliant covers by Buck Owens and others, but this is the best I've ever heard.

Among the other great covers here are Rough and rocky (Flatt and Scruggs), Hickory wind (a Gram Parsons song that first appeared on the classic album Sweethearts of the rodeo by the Byrds), Sorrow in the wind (Jean Ritchie - the song is sometimes titled Sweet sorrow in the wind), They'll never take his love from me (Hank Williams) and Every time you leave (Louvin Brothers) - with Don Everly.

The title track, Blue Kentucky girl, was an early Loretta Lynn country hit that might have faded into obscurity but for Emmylou's revival of it.

The album closes with one of my favorite country songs, Even cowgirls get the blues. Written by Rodney Crowell and with friends Dolly and Linda joining in, this is brilliant, although more restrained than Lynn Anderson's rousing up-tempo version, which is equally brilliant. Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings later recorded the song on their Heroes duet album, and they also did a great job with it.

As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best albums ever recorded by anybody in any genre of music.

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