|
12-time Grammy Award-winner Emmylou Harris retraces the
back roads of her remarkable musical journey that spans
more than three decades with a highly personalized, far-reaching
boxed set spotlighting her favorite tracks and difficult-to-find
or previously unreleased gems. Rhino lets one of the most
instantly recognizable voices of any genre call the tunes
for this four-CD and one-DVD collection of career favorites,
difficult-to-find material and live performances from
her days with Gram Parsons and, later, the Hot Band to
her bluegrass material and her fascinating concept album
to her more recent solo albums and her most
recent work Mark Knopfler.
When Billboard Magazine honored Emmylou Harris in 1999
with its prestigious "Century Award," they appropriately
lauded her as a "truly venturesome, genre-transcending
pathfinder," whose award was meant "to acknowledge
the uncommon excellence of [her] still-unfolding body
of work." SONGBIRD reveals new dimensions of Harris's
languid, elegant music and explores more
deeply her work as a pioneering singer and songwriter.
For this 78-track retrospective, Harris goes beyond her
greatest hits and personally selects memorable moments
from her acclaimed career, including her favorite songs,
unreleased live tracks, outtakes, demos and special collaborations
- many appearing on an Emmylou Harris compilation for
the first time.
The collection opens with an unreleased outtake of "Clocks,"
a song from her 1969 solo debut Gliding Bird, before winding
its way through the many phases of Harris' trailblazing
career. The first two of SONGBIRD's discs follow Harris'
own career, as she helped break down the barriers separating
country and rock both through her partnership with Gram
Parsons and then in her own career. SONGBIRD's first disc
features two of their duets: "The Angels Rejoiced
Last Night" and a live version of "The Old Country
Baptizing."
Disc One of the retrospective not only draws heavily
from Harris' string of acclaimed albums from the '70s,
but also showcases some of her early collaborative works
with fellow artists and her talent for song selection.
SONGBIRD's first disc features covers of Dolly Parton's
"Coat Of Many
Colors" and The Beatles' "For No One,"
both from Pieces Of The Sky, the achingly beautiful album
that most consider her real debut. Also spotlighted are
"Tulsa Queen," a song she cowrote with Rodney
Crowell; "My Songbird" a Jesse Winchester-penned
track that gives the boxed set its title; a duet with
Willie Nelson on "One Paper Kid"; and "Spanish
Johnny" with Waylon Jennings from Harris' 1981 album
Evangeline.
Through the '80s -- an era of urban cowboys, mechanical
bulls, and country-pop -- Harris rose to become the authentic
voice of country on such albums, which is highlighted
on SONGBIRD's second disc. The disc kicks off with "The
Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" from the semi-autobiographical
concept album The Ballad Of Sally Rose (1984), which features
the voices of Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Vince Gill and Gail
Davies. Disc Two features tracks from At The Ryman, the
live album Emmylou recorded at Nashville's "Church
of Country Music" in the early 1990s when it actually
risked demolition. The attention the album brought to
the venue is credited largely as what saved the hall,
and The Ryman Auditorium continues to be one of the country's
premier concert venues.
Disc Two continues through the 1990s, as musically,
Emmylou's boundaries continued to expand. In 1995 she
recorded a pivotal solo album, Wrecking Ball, with U2
producer Daniel Lanois. Hailed by critics as a masterpiece,
the album is represented with covers of Lucinda Williams'
"Sweet Old World" and Anna McGarrigle's "Going
Back To Harlan." Clearly energized, she followed
with Spyboy (1998), a live album of contemporary takes
on some of her best-known material played by a new band
-- "Prayer In Open D" and "All My Tears"
are included here. Selecting songs from a pair of recent
albums, Harris chooses "Bang The Drum Slowly"
from Red Dirt Girl (2000) and "Lost Unto This World"
from 2003's Stumble Into Grace.
Discs Three and Four focus on previously unissued material
and outtakes, as
well as tracks Harris has recorded for or with other artists
or for projects and releases other than her own. These
two discs of SONGBIRD also focus heavily on Harris' renowned
collaborative work.
Disc Three features the previously unissued gem
"Palms Of Victory," which was recorded in 1978
with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, who were then calling
themselves The Queenston Trio. This song is the first,
original and unsweetened track from what would have been
the first Trio album to ever see release, had they completed
the project. Also included on this disc is
a previously unissued outtake of the hymn "Softly
And Tenderly" from the Trio II sessions. Of this
song, Emmylou says, "I was grieved that this [song]
didn't come out. I think the singing is exquisite. When
Linda goes up in that modulation you realize all over
again why she is maybe the
greatest voice of our time... and then of course Dolly
was made to sing these old-timey songs... It was an unbelievable
experience to hear those voices on the same song."
"In The Garden," a song recorded for but not
included on the soundtrack for All The Pretty Horses,
is also on SONGBIRD's third disc, as well as "Immigrant
Eyes," a Guy Clark cover Harris recorded for his
60th birthday. Among the many highlights on this disc
are tributes to Tammy Wynette, Kate Wolf, Hank Williams,
Townes Van Zandt, Webb Pierce, Merle Haggard and Gram
Parsons. For SONGBIRD, Harris includes three tracks from
the Parsons tribute album she produced, Return Of The
Grievous Angel: "She" (with the Pretenders),
"Sin City" (with Beck), and "Juanita"
(with Sheryl Crow).
Disc Four opens with a duet with Patty Griffin,
"Beyond The Blue," which was recorded for the
motion picture Where The Heart Is. Here Harris includes.
"Alone and Forsaken," a track she recorded with
Mark Knopfler for the Hank Williams tribute Timeless,
and also "Love And Happiness," one of the Harris-penned
songs included on the Harris-Knopfler duets album All
The Roadrunning. "Here We Are," which was Harris'
first time to sing with one of her biggest inspirations,
George Jones, appears here, as well as outtakes from Brand
New Dance and Cowgirl's Prayer.
The DVD contains nine videos taken from throughout Harris'
career including a pair of performances from the BBC's
Old Grey Whistle Test -- "Together Again" with
The Hot Band featuring James Burton in 1975 and "Making
Believe" with The Hot Band featuring Albert Lee,
filmed in 1977. Also featured are selections from a 1978
performance on the PBS program Soundstage, as well as
a duet with Elvis Costello ("Love Hurts"), recorded
in 2006 live at the historic Grand Ole Opry. The DVD closes
with a PSA from Harris discussing animal rescue, a cause
she passionately supports through ongoing awareness-raising
efforts and fundraising work within her community, but
also through her own dog rescue and adoption organization,
Bonaparte's Retreat.
Harris has recorded over 20 albums and has lent her talents
to folk, country-rock and Americana singing alongside
a who's who of American greats, including Johnny Cash,
Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, Chrissie Hynde, Neil Young and
Steve Earle. Since 1975's acclaimed Pieces Of The Sky,
Emmylou Harris has been a foremost figure in several of
America's most important musical movements, including
the Americana movement of the 1990's and the recent independent
music explosion. Harris has also appeared at any number
of historic musical events, such as The Last Waltz concert
with The Band, the "Down From The Mountain"
tour with Ralph Stanley, and Neil
Young's Ryman Auditorium performances, which were captured
in the recent Jonathan Demme-directed film Heart Of Gold.
|
