Emmylou Harris, deservedly inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this April, returned to the sound and styling that marked her classic breakthrough albums of the 1970s with this year’s acclaimed ALL I INTENDED TO BE. The album, which features guest vocal appearances by the likes of John Starling, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Buddy Miller and Kate and Anna McGarrigle, was recorded over a four-year period primarily at producer Brian Ahern’s Easter Island Surround in Nashville. Ahern, a former husband of Emmylou, produced her first eleven albums for Warner-Reprise when she intuitively drew new generations of fans to classic country from the mid-1970s onward, by recording startlingly fresh interpretations of songs like the Louvin Brothers’ If I Could Only Win Your Love and Buck Owens’ Together Again. Along the way she built a reputation for her stunning harmony singing, adding her voice to recordings by Roy Orbison, Don Williams, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt and dozens more, reminding old and young alike that heartfelt music erases all boundaries of time and space.

The new album marks the first time the couple of have worked together on an album for twenty-five years. It’s not exactly a return to her roots—it’s too sombre and stately—but it nods in that direction with an emphasis on acoustic guitar, mandolin

and steel. Emmylou’s voice is, of course, impeccable throughout with little of the histrionics or mumbling that marred albums like WRECKING BALL and SPYBOY for many of her longtime fans.

She once again showcases her continuing songwriting prowess having written or co-written five of the 13 songs, including a couple with Kate and Anna McGarrigle. One of Emmylou’s solo songs is Gold, which features Dolly Parton and Vince Gill on harmony vocals. It’s a song that she wrote more than ten years ago and had initially wanted to include it on her 1995 Grammy-winning album WRECKING BALL, but it seemed too country-influenced for the Daniel Lanois-produced collection.

 To read the full cover story of Emmylou Harris buy the September 08 issue of Maverick today!

This is an extract of a feature first printed in issue 74 of Maverick Magazine. You can order a copy of this issue, including a longer version of this article, using our secure on-line store:

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