I have never, ever, been interested in the music of Emmylou Harris, it is not my thing at all and I have been quite content without it in my life. And then I bought, on a whim, a used copy of Blue Kentucky Girl for a few £’s. I listened to it and, much to my surprise, I really rather liked it. Now I can tell you without hesitation that only a few short years ago I wouldn’t have given it the time of day, and I wouldn’t have like it, not one bit, but for some reason that is no longer true.
Now it could have ended there, but it didn’t. She has become one of the artists who I keep my eyes open for when digging through used records for bargains. Why? No idea. So I was going through the £2 section in the used record store and they had seemingly recently bought somebodies collection which had included some Emmylou in it.
It was all a bit odd. When I am digging through racks if I find something I want I put it to the front and, when I move to the next rack I put it and any others at the front of that one, and so on an so forth. I did 8 £2 racks and ended up with 5 Emmylou Harris albums at the front. I did ponder momentarily if I was overdoing it, but £10 for 5 albums is pretty damn reasonable so I decided to take them.
So far I’ve listened to two of them and godamnit I really like them. So the first I listened to was this:
Elite Hotel from 1976. Her version of The Beatles – Here, There and Everywhere really is quite beautiful. The whole thing is really but I can’t help being slightly annoyed at myself for liking it. This goes back to the musical bunkers we were all entrenched in back in my teens, it’s ingrained and difficult to shake, but I persevere.
Tracklist
| A1 | Amarillo | 3:05 |
| A2 | Together Again | 3:56 |
| A3 | Feelin’ Single – Seein’ Double | 2:34 |
| A4 | Sin City | 3:57 |
| A5 | One Of These Days | 3:03 |
| A6 | Till I Gain Control Again | 5:40 |
| B1 | Here, There And Everywhere | 3:59 |
| B2 | Ooh Las Vegas | 3:47 |
| B3 | Sweet Dreams | 4:03 |
| B4 | Jambalaya | 3:05 |
| B5 | Satan’s Jewel Crown | 3:13 |
| B6 | Wheels | 3:13 |
The other one I’ve listened to so far is this:
Thirteen from 1986. Opener Mystery Train is a cracker.
Also, Emmylou looks gorgeous on the cover, where she was 39 at the time, or maybe 40. She is still a very attractive woman at 70. Anyway, I liked this album as well and am now considering getting a cowboy hat.
Tracklist
| A1 | Mystery Train | |
| A2 | You’re Free To Go | |
| A3 | Sweetheart Of The Pines | |
| A4 | Just Someone I Used To Know | |
| A5 | My Father’s House | |
| B1 | Lacassine Special | |
| B2 | Today I Started Loving You Again | |
| B3 | When I Was Yours | |
| B4 | I Had My Heart Set On You | |
| B5 | Your Long Journey |
I haven’t had a chance to listen to the other three yet but I’ll report back when I have, hopefully I’ll hate them and all this will be over.
Some of my favourites are her first three country albums (Pieces of the Sky, Elite Hotel, Luxury Liner), 1980’s Roses in the Snow, and 1995’s Lanois produced Wrecking Ball.
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I thought Elite Hotel was really good, still haven’t given the others a listen yet, but at £2 an album it’s not much of a risk really.
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Now you have me thinking, I have been deliberately discarding any Emmy Lou I find after a disastrous dalliance with Linda Rondstadt.
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As far as I can see, the first three or four albums are worth getting, and some of the more recent ones, the middle era ones I don’t know yet. I’ve overlooked them for years as well but at a couple of £ it seems worth the gamble. I had similar issues with Judie Tzuke, I bought one full price years ago, wasn’t for me.
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