Emmylou Harris

Wrecking Ball

Essential Music

Review Score:

(10/10)
If you stumbled across this, and haven't heard Emmylou Harris, I will ask this of you: listen to 3 of her songs. Pick 'em at random if you will! Afterwards I would suspect 8 out of 10 of you will be inclined to intensely follow her career from this day forward.

My tastes in music are eclectic, but the music I listen to the very least is labeled "Country". Yet I have been an avid Emmylou fan since 1979. She is one of those artists who make such labels ridiculous and make me realise that when hell finally freezes over and I have my own record store, all artists will be simply be listed alphabetically (or by height; I haven't quite decided yet)...

I saw her play in Edmonton on April 2, 1996. Wrecking Ball had been released about six months earlier but I, for reasons I can't recall, had not yet heard it. It was her birthday. I wanted to bring my extra personalised license plate 'Emmylou' (from my '54 Studebaker) as tribute, but didn't. Perhaps next time. The opening group was "The Innocence Mission" which is a whole other wonderful story. Emmylou and her band of the day then took the stage. I was immediately suprised by the Daniel Lanois sound they seemed to have. Yeah, I learned later. About half way through the evening Emmylou performed a Lucinda Williams tune called "Sweet Old World". I cried at it's beauty.

The next day, at approximately 10:01 a.m., I purchased The Wrecking Ball CD. I found that the recording of Sweet Old World on the CD was played by this lineup of talent: Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois, Malcolm Burn, Larry Mullen Jr., Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Richard Bennett and Neil Young. "Wow" said I. The play button was pushed, and I cried again.

Oh, did I forget to mention the other eleven wonderful songs?

Indeed a classic recording and a classic collaboration.

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