When I was a kid, Emmylou was the kind of older woman you'd admire from a distance, talented and cool and hanging out with the unspeakably cool guys, older than us and experienced, who were always just back from Kashmir or Lhasa or Kathmandu. The kind of gifted, unattainable girlfriend everybody wanted but you knew you'd never have, because you weren't cool enough.
Today, at sixty, Emmylou is still entrancing and warm-hearted.
As you know, I went to the show with my beloved daughter, who seemed like the ideal travelling companion, and the decision turned out to be the right one. We combined a little bit of a road movie with a few drinks in town, a little bit of father-daughter confiding and a couple of hours in front of a living legend backed by a band of consummate musicians.
How bad?
The evening took us on a journey from Gram Parsons to Daniel Lanois, via Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle, on a journey of old dreams, old loves and new hopes. Yes, they showcased the new album, but Emmylou and the band took us all over the Harris tapestry, from Pancho and Lefty to Evangeline, from Wheels to Wrecking Ball.
Everyone should go there at least once in their life.
With special thanks to the Warrior Princess for the best birthday present ever.
Here's Emmylou with Wildwood Flower
And here's a Steve Earle song: Goodbye
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Elsewhere:
Glad you enjoyed it Bock – that gift was incredibly thoughtful and apposite for you. I heard EmmyLou in Lisdoonvarna about 1979 – that bell-clear voice is awesome. She lifts country music to another plane entirely.
Nuts
I am far too jealous right now to possibly post a comment. But I will say that Daniel Lanois introduced the rest of the world to a talent bigger than the Grand Canyon, and for my part I could watch her and these other two ladies forever
The weird looking instrument is the glass harmonica, invented I believe by Mr Big Brains Benjamin Franklin.
But as I said, far too jealous to comment…
Nut–
I wholeheartedly agree. Emmylou made country credible, or at least the branch of country that wasn't puke-inducingly cheesy.
Nick —
I feel your jealousy.
I always had misgivings about their sanitisation of the After The Goldrush lyrics though.
Yeah, about the getting high? I started off thinking it was a cop-out too, but over time I've come to think that the version they sang was truer for them than what Neil's would have been. Apparently all through the Gram Parsons mayhem Emmylou never messed with any of the drugs stuff – I'll believe her if she tells me Joe Stalin was an alright guy too – and I know Dolly's purer than Tennessee moonshine. Linda now I reckon coulda maybe sorta… But I digress. I just love that glass harmonica. Not too many instruments bestride the lyrics of a song to such hauntingly appropriate effect.
Hi Bock,
Glad you had a great time! :)
Hi Nick,
They make a great trio. I'm partial to their album Trio, but then I grew up hearing bluegrass.
Nick —
I'm afraid that little alteration just irritates me a tiny bit too much. I can't help it, which is a pity because I agree they sound great.
HGF —
Thanks.
I love everything about this woman's music and interpretations. It was a birthday that I saw her on in Kansas City a few years back.
Tell me though, for those of us outside of cycling range, who's that in the band playing with her?
Eolaà –
The guitarist is Colin Linden from Canada.
The guy playing fiddle and mandolin is
Ricky Simpkins.
I think it's Chris Donohue on bass and Phil Madeira on keyboards, accordeon and guitar.
I don't know who was on drums.
Wrangler jeans patched with my mother's curtains, dessert boots and my inter cert. Petulie oil too.
I reckon it was Dolly who called for the bastardisation of the lyric. Made me cry too!