Friday, March 1, 2013

Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell | Old Yellow Moon

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell have known each other for close to forty years and they knew that one day they would make an album together. Thankfully that day has come! "Old Yellow Moon' was released earlier this week.

Harris was introduced to Crowell's music in 1974 by Brian Ahern, her former husband and producer of her early albums.  Ahern produced the new CD.  Harris heard "Bluebird Wine" from a cassette tape that Ahern played for her, and "that was the ticket," she said. That early Rodney Crowell song, which Crowell never recorded, is included on the new album with Rodney taking the lead vocal and Emmylou, the back-up.

Crowell contributed four songs to the project, with others coming from Kris Kristofferson, Matraca Berg, Hank DeVito, Roger Miller and Allen Reynolds. It is obvious that a lot of thought went into the choice of songs, but after listening to the album a few times, I feel like they could take ANY song in the world and make it their own.

The years playing on the road and in the studio, and their life experiences have added up and inform every note on this record. Both Harris' and Crowell's voices have never sounded better. Their finesse in delivering a song is on par with the best of the best, and there are many moments of absolute brilliance. Brian Ahern, Vince Gill, Bill Payne, Stuart Duncan provide top notch accompaniment.

Harris and Crowell talk about the project in this video, shot in Crowell's home studio, with Crowell's dog listening in and observing the action

1 comments:

Beachshoe said...

Two greats together again!

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