"The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris"
(Rounder (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK)(ASTERISK){)
Notice how the title refers to the "songs of Emmylou Harris." Though the silver-haired songbird developed into a fine writer, she wrote only three of the 19 selections on the CD version of this all-star tribute concert (seven of 25 on the DVD that's part of a two-disc package). It's a testament to this godmother of Americana's power as a singer and her visionary artistic instincts that these numbers are associated with her.
So, with a band led by Buddy Miller and Don Was, you get selections such as Gram Parsons' "Sin City" (performed by Steve Earle) and "Hickory Wind" (Lucinda Williams), the Louvin Brothers' "When I Stop Dreaming," and Delbert McClinton's "Two More Bottles of Wine" (Sheryl Crow), as well as relatively newer fare, such as Daniel Lanois' "Blackhawk" (Lanois and Harris) and Mark Knopfler's "All the Roadrunning" (Mary Chapin Carpenter).
As Vince Gill says at the show in Harris' original home turf of Washington before delivering Buck Owens' "Together Again": "She has been the most amazing teacher at showing us where this music came from."
_Nick Cristiano
