Thoroughly enjoyed this, Jon! To further inform your understanding of country music and its impactful lyrics, you must listen to Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast Revisionist History, Season 2, Episode 6, The King of Tears!
this is fantastic Jon. I have always liked her music, but now I think I am going to love it. Question: Forgive me if this is the sort of thing I should know already but if I wanted to listen to your Spotify playlist for her (and for future artists you feature), can I subscribe to it?
Congratulations on discovering Emmylou. Your article is very well done. If you want to see her semi-llive, there are multiple concerts on YouTube from over the years and she has a livestream from City Winery in Nashville coming up in November. You may discover you enjoy her older stuff too.
If you love Emmylou (and I've loved her since forever. born with country in my veins), be sure to check out anything from Patti Griffin (particularly "Living with Ghosts," "Impossible Dream," or my favorite..."1000 Kisses"). another brilliant female singer/songwriter who speaks from the soul.
Great new content. really well done...and thank god it has nothing to do with the Dodgers!
Fantastic, she has been one of my favorites since Robert Hilburn told us about her in the 70s. Her This is Us with Mark Knopfler is one of my brothers' favorites. I was unaware of the relationship she had with Gram Parsons until Burns told us about it which was just one of the many nuggets found in that documentary. Red Dirt Girl is a beautiful haunting song, that hurts when it is over because you know she just described the life of so many struggling people. This is going to be great. Can't wait for the Exene Cervenka breakdown:)
Love Emmylou. And love your writing. Thanks for reminding me to listen to her more. As you say, she points a picture so quickly and vividly. Always draws me in.
Excellent tribute to a great song. I love it when songwriters don’t just repeat key lines, but subtly change them as the story unfolds. RDG is one of my favorite Emmylou albums, although it made me wish she’d had more confidence (if that was the issue) in her own songs earlier in her career. I also enthusiastically second Scott Grogin’s nomination of Patty Griffin, and would add 2007’s “Children Running Through” to Scott’s must-hear list.
A (potentially weird) suggestion re: listening to the full Red Dirt Girl CD… I like to start with Track 2 (Michelangelo) because it takes a couple beats to get up to speed, a big no-no in my college radio days. This way, the song cycle ends with all those “alleluias” that close out The Pearl. For me, The Pearl contains the most breathtaking lines from the entire album, too: “We lift up our prayer against the odds/And fear the silence is the voice of God.” Thanks again, Jon!
Love this from the interview you quote: "You get crushes on words and then the rhymes come." Cool window into her process. Excited for where you take this newsletter!
A song that always--always--provokes an emotional song is a gem of a song. And at the time of it's release, who really knew she could write, let alone so brilliantly.
I've never heard of the song nor Harris; but I listened before, read your recap, and listened again. Job well done, and thanks for the intro to a new slate of music.
Thanks for this. Though I think of myself as a lifelong Emmylou follower, I don’t recall listening to this, let alone appreciating it when it came out. I guess I lost closely followed her during the late seventies, the Wrecking Ball period, the Knopfler collaboration and now with her charity work, where I have had the pleasure to see her live. Also saw her live in the seventies, when she was joined onstage by Willie Nelson and President Carter dropped by!
Bravo! I also love the song "Tragedy" from this same album with harmony vocals by Springsteen and Patti.
Thoroughly enjoyed this, Jon! To further inform your understanding of country music and its impactful lyrics, you must listen to Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast Revisionist History, Season 2, Episode 6, The King of Tears!
this is fantastic Jon. I have always liked her music, but now I think I am going to love it. Question: Forgive me if this is the sort of thing I should know already but if I wanted to listen to your Spotify playlist for her (and for future artists you feature), can I subscribe to it?
Great start, Jon!
Congratulations on discovering Emmylou. Your article is very well done. If you want to see her semi-llive, there are multiple concerts on YouTube from over the years and she has a livestream from City Winery in Nashville coming up in November. You may discover you enjoy her older stuff too.
If you love Emmylou (and I've loved her since forever. born with country in my veins), be sure to check out anything from Patti Griffin (particularly "Living with Ghosts," "Impossible Dream," or my favorite..."1000 Kisses"). another brilliant female singer/songwriter who speaks from the soul.
Great new content. really well done...and thank god it has nothing to do with the Dodgers!
Fantastic, she has been one of my favorites since Robert Hilburn told us about her in the 70s. Her This is Us with Mark Knopfler is one of my brothers' favorites. I was unaware of the relationship she had with Gram Parsons until Burns told us about it which was just one of the many nuggets found in that documentary. Red Dirt Girl is a beautiful haunting song, that hurts when it is over because you know she just described the life of so many struggling people. This is going to be great. Can't wait for the Exene Cervenka breakdown:)
Love Emmylou. And love your writing. Thanks for reminding me to listen to her more. As you say, she points a picture so quickly and vividly. Always draws me in.
Excellent tribute to a great song. I love it when songwriters don’t just repeat key lines, but subtly change them as the story unfolds. RDG is one of my favorite Emmylou albums, although it made me wish she’d had more confidence (if that was the issue) in her own songs earlier in her career. I also enthusiastically second Scott Grogin’s nomination of Patty Griffin, and would add 2007’s “Children Running Through” to Scott’s must-hear list.
A (potentially weird) suggestion re: listening to the full Red Dirt Girl CD… I like to start with Track 2 (Michelangelo) because it takes a couple beats to get up to speed, a big no-no in my college radio days. This way, the song cycle ends with all those “alleluias” that close out The Pearl. For me, The Pearl contains the most breathtaking lines from the entire album, too: “We lift up our prayer against the odds/And fear the silence is the voice of God.” Thanks again, Jon!
I like it. Has a Steve Earle vibe.
Love this from the interview you quote: "You get crushes on words and then the rhymes come." Cool window into her process. Excited for where you take this newsletter!
A song that always--always--provokes an emotional song is a gem of a song. And at the time of it's release, who really knew she could write, let alone so brilliantly.
I've never heard of the song nor Harris; but I listened before, read your recap, and listened again. Job well done, and thanks for the intro to a new slate of music.
That may be common for the next 13 weeks.
Thanks for this. Though I think of myself as a lifelong Emmylou follower, I don’t recall listening to this, let alone appreciating it when it came out. I guess I lost closely followed her during the late seventies, the Wrecking Ball period, the Knopfler collaboration and now with her charity work, where I have had the pleasure to see her live. Also saw her live in the seventies, when she was joined onstage by Willie Nelson and President Carter dropped by!