Peter's Top Ten Cds of 2004 (in progress...)

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Peter's Top Ten CD's (as of today...)

Okay, okay, I know that this top ten list is not explicitly about Emmylou (save for number 6) but I just love top ten cd lists and I couldn't resist publishing mine. Of course I reserve the right to change any entry or entries as my mood and or opinion changes. Right now it's a lot of singer songwriters stuff, but had I written this a month ago more Velvet Underground, Airplane, X, Ramones would have shown up. Oh well,...Here's a list of 10 cds that continuously I come back to and am repeatedly blown away by. Some are well regarded by the critics (whoever they are) some are pooh-poohed. (fuck 'em all).
1. I recently realized that I love this Beatles disc the most because it is most consistently a John record. I should do some sort of analysis that supports this assertion but to me it seems to embody all that I love a bout John. The other blokes are good too...
2.My high school English teacher gave me a copy of this album back in 1980. I can't remember what my 14 year old psyche did with the complex rythms and stream of conciousness lyrics, but I do remember that I was moved sufficiently to realize that I needed to pay attention to Van. The Way Young Lovers Do is sublime (also check out Maria McKee's verion on "You Gotta Sin to Get Saved".
3. I love Chrissie Hynde almost as much as I love Emmmylou. Her growling demeanor and unappologetic sexuality is as much rock and roll as Elvis' hips, and Little Richards whoops. Just when you think she's gonna cause a riot she sings tender and fragile songs like "Kid".
4. "I married Isis on the fifth day of May, but I could not hold on to her for very long." This is one of the greatest lines in the Dylan catalog. I have tried to unpack it's meaning for years. Isis is the sun goddess, fifth of May is Mexican independence day, marriage commitment. "I married a powerful woman of independence but it was doomed from the start". Who know's but it certainly really potent imagery.
5. I am going on the record here that Patty Griffin is a songwriter/musician to watch very carefully. Her songs are mini-movie/psycho dramas of the highest order. "Tony" is just fabuoulous. The narrators attempt at getting into the head of a boy who's committed suicide is subtle and clever. Has the narrator contributed to the harrassment that lead to the suicide? Where does responsibility begin and end in a tragic event? Big issues in a 3 minute drama with a churning beat and singable melody.
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Evangeline *** (in progress...)

I Don't Have to Crawl
How High the Moon
Spanish Johnny
Bad Moon Rising
Evangeline
Hot Burrito No. 2
Millworker
Oh, Atlanta
Mr. Sandman
Ashes by Now

Cimarron *** (in progress...)

Roses in the Snow **** (in progress...)

When I first started learning how to play guitar (Mart D-28 thank you very much) I went immediately to the songs on this album. They are great, albeit simple songs to learn. Roses in the Snow is a great song in the dead lover tradition of bluegrass. I am not even that great a fan of bluegrass. It's okay, but it doesn't hold my attention the way that traditional country does. That said, Roses in the Snow, Emmy's Bluegrass submission is an excellent sketch book of that tradition. Again, there is an out of place choice from the pop world. "The Boxer", in my opinion doesn't need a bluegrass reading and should have been passed over for some other straight on bluegrass choice.

I think this record is the first in the early Emmy catalog where the shadow of Gram Parsons isn't at the forefront. Although I would bet money on the possibility that many of theses songs are songs that Emmy learned from Gram. Can't you imagine Gram's dueting vocal on the Louvin's You're Learning.

Roses in the Snow
Wayfaring Stranger
Green Pastures
The Boxer
Darkest Hour is Just Before the Dawn
I'll Go Stepping Too
You're Learning
Jordan
Miss the Mississippi and You
Gold Watch and Chain
You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)
Root Like a Rose

Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town **** (in progress...)

I can totally remember the first time I heard Emmylou Harris. In my mothers 1972 Volkwagen Beetle after her 1977 divorce I found a copy of "Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town" on 8-track. The car stereo was shitty, but Emmy certainly left her impression.

Easy from Now On

Two More Bottles of Wine
great song. I've got a couple of old bootlegs of the Hot Band doing this in their heyday. I wish I could have seen the Hot Band.

To Daddy
"mamma never seemed to miss the finer things in life..." Dolly is truly an American treasure. The subtlety of her writing is profound.

My Songbird
Of the 14 times I've seen Emmy this song is clearly the most often performed in her repatoire. Simple yet elegant. The fragility of the narrator is so moving.

Leaving Lousiana in the Broad Daylight
Defying Gravity
I Ain't Living Long Like This
One Paper Kid
Green Rolling Hills
Burn the Candle

Blue Kentucky Girl (in progress...)

Luxury Liner ***** (in progress...)

I know that a parent should never play favorites with their many children, but, Luxury Liner may in fact be the greatest Emmylou Harris record there is. I am serious. It is practically perfect in every way. Good mix of fast and slow, little bit of rock n' roll, little bit of ole -timey AP Carter and a lot of one of my faves Rodney Crowell.

Luxury Liner
That guitar starts to rev up and reel you in and you then know you're in for one hell of a ride.

Pancho & Lefty
This is a great story song by Townes van Zandt. I love Emmy's version, but I forever associate this song with Merle and Willie who capitalize on the song's vagrancy quotient far better than Emmy.

Making Believe
You're Supposed to be Feeling Good
I'll Be Your San Antone Rose
(You Never Can Tell) C'est La VieWhen I stop Dreaming
Hello Stranger
When I saw the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue this summer (twice!) Emmy and Gillian dueted on this AP Carter song. This version on LL is strong (I can't remember who sings back up, maybe Faysioux Starling), but with Gillian's old-timey tones this summer's live version was exquisit.
She
Tulsa Queen
Me and Willie
Night Flyer

Elite Hotel (in progress...)

Pieces of the Sky (in progress...)

Well I listened to Pieces of the Sky this weekend while I puttered around the house. I have to admit that when I am in an emmy listening mood I don't always go for POTS, and that's too bad. It is a very good album. Save for a couple of out of place choices the album explores themes that run throughout Emmy's career. Of particular note are Haggard's "Tonight the Bottle Let me Down" and Parton's "Coat of Many Colors". I wish I could remember 1974 better but my memories of that year are muddled with Watergate pre-empting of Saturday morning Bugs Bunny and my resulting disgust of the adult world. Musically, I suspect Emmy's bridging of the pop-soft-rock-country&western world was foreign to many listeners. But with the advantage of almost 30 years in retrospect POTS seems like a major piece in the developmental puzzle of "country rock" (I know I hate that label too) to alt.country.

"Bluebird Wine"
Wow! What a way to start your debut! (yeah, yeah I know about "Gliding Bird") Bluebird Wine draws the Honky Tonk lines around what Emmylou intends on accomplishing. Part declaration of independence and part "props" to her Fallen Angels past Bluebird Wine sets the stage for much of her career to come.

"Too Far Gone"

"If I Could Only Win Your Love"

"Boulder to Birmingham"
I think that this track more than any illustrates the mixing of pop and country music. The three previous tracks on POTS have a explict country tone and feel. Boulder with its minors, 7ths and suspended chords goes way beyond the 3 major chords honky tonk hear break songs. This being said, I love BTB and think fondly of all the times I've heard Emmy sing it. Gram looms heavily in the lyric and later in the record Emmy sings Sleepless Nights pretty faithfully to Gram's version.

"Before Believing"

"Bottle Let Me Down"
Okay, let me put it out there for all to hear. "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down" is as close to perfect as a song comes. And Emmy nails it on the head. The ache in her voice emphasises the hurt of the song. Anyone who has had the heart broken can identify with this song (regardless of alcohol consumption). It is is truly a GREAT American song.

"Sleepless Nights"

"Coat of Many Colors"
I read once that when Emmy and Linda Ronstadt were getting to be pals they compared notes on their favorite singers and surprise, surprise Dolly was the top of each list. Far too underrated as a songwriter and singer Dolly's "Coat of Many Colors" is a perfect piece of songwriting. Emmy does a great job but falls short of making it her own. To my ears it is still Emmy singing Dolly, unlike here version of "To Daddy" where Emmy literally makes it her own. Nonetheless, Coat of Many Colors is beautiful example of homespun American country spiritual.

"For No One"
So....anyone who knows me knows that I am a bigger Beatles freak than I am an Emmylou fan (Sorry Emmy...), BUT I gotta say this version of Paul's For No One just doesn't belong here. I know Emmy is a Beatles fan (I mean who isn't) recording this and "Here, There and Everywhere" on the next album as well as performing "In My Life" and "Imagine".

"Queen of the Silver Dollar"

"Hank and Lefty"

"California Cottonfields"

Welcome to the Ballad of Sally Rose

Okay, here's the maiden voyage.

I have created this BLOG because I am absolutely obsessed with Emmylou Harris. The poor woman would be mortified to know that someone spends so much time, effort and money on ALL things Emmylou. So, I am going to use this forum to organize these obsessions into a cogent presentation; sort of like a virtual doll house where Emmy is the star and I get to come over and borrow a cup of sugar. You know Mary and Rhoda type of thing. Of course this is mostly for myself but others may enjoy bits and pieces of it.

The main tasks will be personal reviews of all of Emmy's records, a history of the times where I have gotten to see her perform live, a catalog of my Emmy memorabilia, and maybe a little (emphasis on little) bit of other complimentary musicians (Dolly, Linda, Patty, Gillian etc.)

Maye two or three sentences about myself will help everyone know that I am just a harmless middle aged fan and not some stalker. I live in Vermont, I am 39 years old, my biggest pass time is music (listening, playing, reading about (MOJO rocks!), going to live shows (Sweet Harmony Traveling review rocked! especially when Emmy & Buddy sang Dylan's "Oh, Sister" in VT), and collecting. I work in higher education as a university administrator, and teach part time at a community college. I am finising my doctorate to boot. I am relatively boring on most fronts so this whole blogger thing may be some sort of weird extension of by boring nature. I have a fantasy of writing a novel about an alienated office worker who is searching for spiritual meaing in the bureacratic workplace when the real world all around him is overlooked. Sorta Kafka-Woody Allenesque thing. That it is far too much about me.

Okay, so stay tuned...first up will be a review of "Pieces of the Sky".