Emmylou Harris Blue Kentucky Girl CD

Emmylou Harris & The Hot Band: Emmylou Harris (vocals, acoustic guitar); Albert Lee (guitar, mandolin); James Burton, Rodney Crowell (guitar); Hank DeVito (pedal steel guitar); Ricky Skaggs (fiddle, background vocals); Glen D. Hardin, Tony Brown (piano); Emory Gordy, Mike Bowden (bass); John Ware (drums).

Emmylou Harris' albums of the '70s all follow a well-defined game plan. First, she selects a stellar repertoire of classic country songs, new material from neo-traditionalists like Rodney Crowell, and one rock oldie (this time it's the Drifters' "Save the Last Dance for Me," which Harris took into country music's top-five). She then surrounds herself with Nashville's finest players-such as guitarists James Burton and Albert Lee, fiddler/mandolinist/singer extraordinaire Ricky Skaggs, and pedal-steel wizard Hank DeVito. Finally, Harris pours her heart and soul into every vocal performance. The resulting albums, of which BLUE KENTUCKY GIRL was the fifth, defined the state-of-the-art for serious country enthusiasts of the era.

By the time BLUE KENTUCKY GIRL was recorded, Harris' already impressive taste in material had reached near perfection. Particularly inspired choices here include the George Jones rarity "Beneath Still Waters," the Louvin Brothers' "Every Time You Leave," and Jean Ritchie's gorgeous "Sorrow in the Wind." Among the more obvious-but equally fine-choices are the Hank Williams Sr. hit "They'll Never Take His Love from Me," Gram Parsons' "Hickory Wind," and Rodney Crowell's "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," the last featuring Dolly Parton and Linda Rondstadt on harmony vocals.

1979's Blue Kentucky Girl was the first pure country record Emmylou Harris ever recorded. It has a stripped-down sound that is as close to the country bone as anything issued by Nash Vegas in the 1960s. Harris made the record this way for two reasons: she had involved herself deeply in the studio mixing of Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town and found it too glossy, and she was responding to the country purists who claimed the only reason she hit the charts so heavily with her albums was that she saturated them with pop songs. This is just crazy, but it was a gauntlet she chose to pick up. As was customary, husband Brian Ahern produced the ten-song set, and Harris played acoustic guitar on all but two of the album's ten tracks while fronting the Hot Band. The material ranged from "Sister's Coming Home," a duet with Tanya Tucker written by Willie Nelson, to Dallas Frazier's stellar nugget "Beneath Still Waters," to Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman's "Hickory Wind," from the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo album, Leon Payne's amazing "They'll Never Take His Love From Me," the Louvin Brothers' "Every Time You Leave," with Don Everly singing duet, to

Includes two previously unreleased bonus tracks.

Additional Tracks

Recorded at the Enactron Truck, Beverly Hills, California. Originally released on Warner Bros. (3318).

Personnel: Emmylou Harris (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Albert Lee (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin); Brian Ahern (acoustic guitar, banjo, percussion); James Burton, Frank Reckard (electric guitar); Ricky Skaggs (mandolin, fiddle, background vocals); Wayne Goodwin (fiddle); Mickey Raphael (harmonica); Lincoln Davis (accordion); Glen D. Hardin, Bill Payne (piano); Don Heffington, John Ware (drums); Cheryl White, Dolly Parton, Fayssoux Starling, Sharon White, Linda Ronstadt (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Doug Beal; Brian Ahern.

Liner Note Author: Parke Puterbaugh.

Recording information: The Enaction Truck, Beverly Hills, CA (1979).

Photographers: Charlyn Zlotnik; Tom Wilkes.

Arranger: Brian Ahern.

Additional personnel: Tanya Tucker, Sharon Hicks, Cheryl Warren, Don Everly, Glenn Campbell (vocals); Brian Ahern (guitar, banjo); Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar); Mickey Raphael (harmonica); Lincoln Davis, Jr. (accordion); Bill Payne (piano); Duke Bardwell (bass); Ronnie Tutt (drums); Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt (Entertainment Weekly (2/27/04, p.99) - "[Harris] drew on [Gram Parsons's] earthy country eclecticism and blossomed." - Rating: A-
Q (4/04, p.132) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]his is where Harris started a journey that has begat a canon..."
Uncut (4/04, p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[H]er first pure country record..."