Emmylou's Reckoning

When I worked on this post back in 2010 I realized how important this album is.  It still gets a ton of spins and the music made listen to all different variety of genres, styles and artist that I otherwise would have not listened to.  Wrecking Ball is an album that is pretty close to perfect.  Daniel Lanois just makes the all dance with all it's charm.  in April of 2014 Nonsuch decided to do a re-issue of the album along with a DVD documentary on the album.  It gave us a first hand account on how Lanois and Harris worked so well together.  I really wish they would renew their friendship and do another.  They can only expand on perfection right?  If you own this album it's a charming and you just want to hit the repeat but so many times.  The cast of people on the album add their own unique charm to the album and her song selection is on par with anything she has done.  I still love the take of the Hendrix song.  Once again it's a huge favorite of mine.  

Back in the mid 1990's I be caught dead listening to anything that resembles new country. I just thought the people I should be listening to were Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, and others. I even said there would be no way I would explore my interest in stuff that was going to resemble any kind of "hick music" in my collection. That quickly changed when I started listening to the Country Rock of Gram Parsons, some Byrds, and various Jerry Garcia projects. I had a friend who was a DJ at the local radio college radio station. She used to specialize in folk, rock and mostly woman's music. She was a fan of the band I was working with at the time and she asked me to come to the show one day to listen to the new Emmylou Harris. I was a little speculative but I decided to come see her.

When I walked into the station she handed me an Emmylou Harris CD. She told me it's a new album that has not country feel to it and she is backed with members of U2, Steve Earle and Neil Young. She also mentioned that she will be playing songs from the album and wanted me to pick the songs. As I looked over Wrecking Ball I was amazed at the songs that Emmylou covered. I told my friend that I wanted to hear her version of Jimi Hendrix and I also wanted to hear her Lucinda Williams cover. I was not sure what I got myself into, but she agreed and smiled. She told me that she has played the album all the way through and loves it. She also warned me that it has no country feel at all and it's as modern as when it came out.

I sat there listening to her show and half way through it she decided to do a set of music that included people like Lucinda Williams, Indigo Girls, Joni Mitchell and lastly the Emmylou Harris. I was so impressed with her cover of Lucinda Williams I was completely floored. Then she opened up a new set of songs of other female artists who covered Hendrix. She again ended the set with her Hendrix cover. I was flabbergasted. I did not know what to think. It was done so well. I looked at the CD again and noticed that the great Daniel Lanois produced this gem.

Each song had it's own space and controlled by Daniel to figure out what fits like a glove for Emmylou. It was amazing. I asked my friend about the album and what she thought of it. She told me it might be the best album she has ever listened to. I was about to leave when she threw me a a copy of the CD. I told her that this was the stations. She quickly dismissed that and said to me that she called the record label and had them send about 10 copies to her as giveaways. I quickly got home and threw it on the CD player. I was very impressed. My parents were like who is this beautiful voiced female singing. When I told my father that it was Emmylou Harris he was telling me the time he saw her in 1975. She did sound country then and she sure does not sound like country now.

Every time I play this album it brings back the memories of when I was not open to anything that resembled country music. When I went back to college I met a friend who was an Emmylou Harris fan. He told me that Wrecking Ball had the same effect on him as well. It truly is a great album. She would put out an album two years later, but it was not the same. I did get to go see her though and she played most of the album and thanked the crowd for the wonderful support for the album. She played for a little over two hours and she was amazing. I was glad I did check it out. Well if you wanted to try something new out and listen to a non-typical album by a great musician and singer then I would check this out. Enjoy!!