The “Other” Wrecking Ball: Emmylou Harris

emmylou harris wrecking ball bruce springsteen wrecking ball In the last few weeks, many have focused on Bruce Springsteen’s new album, Wrecking Ball. All of the news reminds me that there was already a great album with same name from when Emmylou Harris released her Wrecking Ball in 1995. The Daniel Lanois production and the atmospheric sound of the album created a career-changing sound for Harris. Allmusic argued that the album might have been the culmination of all of Harris’s work up until then, calling it “a leftfield masterpiece, the most wide-ranging, innovative, and daring record in a career built on such notions.” I fell in love with the album immediately, and seeing Harris perform the songs in New Orleans sealed it for me. Just consider three great songs from that CD.

First, the opening song on the album sets the stage for the Lanois production touch with one of his songs, “Where Will I Be.” The question asked in the song — “Oh where oh where will I be. . . when that trumpets sounds” — reflects a theme running through many songs on the album of trying to find one’s place in the world and the universe, whether it be with love, family, or something spiritual.

Later on the album, Harris showed her great taste in music by covering one of Steve Earle’s most heartbreaking songs, “Goodbye” from his Train A Comin’ (1995) album. I love Earle’s version but Harris is the only cover I have heard that captures the aching in the song. On the album, Earle loaned his guitar playing to aid Harris’s voice in creating a great version of the song with one of the greatest lines of all time about a past love, “I can’t remember if we said goodbye.”

Finally, the album also features her cover of Bob Dylan’s religious masterpiece, “Every Grain of Sand” from his Shot of Love (1981) album. In 2003, Harris performed the song at Johnny Cash’s funeral with Sheryl Crow. This video is from San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in 2010. Even though the camera is a little shaky, it captures Harris in fine form with Buddy Miller helping out on guitar (on the CD, Steve Earle played guitar on this song too).

And those are only three songs on Wrecking Ball, which in addition to Steve Earle, included guest appearances by Lucinda Williams and Neil Young with songs by those two artists as well as a beautiful cover of Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl.” I will not dare to say which Wrecking Ball album is the best, but there is certainly room on you iPod for both of these Wrecking Balls.

  • The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris
  • Me and the Eagle
  • Why “GUY”? (Steve Earle album review)
  • Dwight, Lucinda, and Steve: “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and Loud, Loud Music)”
  • Emmylou Harris Covers Steve Earle’s “The Pilgrim”
  • Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell On “The Traveling Kind”
  • (Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

    Author: chimesfreedom

    Editor-in-chief, New York.

    4 thoughts on “The “Other” Wrecking Ball: Emmylou Harris”

    1. Was wondering how it was the new cd could be called wrecking ball since there’s already been one. I wonder about that with movies too (I think Crash is the example that comes to mind). I do love Emmylou Harris, though I think my favorite is Red Dirt Girl.

      1. Red Dirt Girl (2000) is an excellent album too (and includes a song, “Tragedy,” with vocals by Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen). I suppose there is no copyright on film or album titles, but it is rare that albums have the same name because artists prefer to avoid confusion. In Springsteen’s case, he seems to be friends with Harris and like her music, so he likely knew there was already a Wrecking Ball album — or at least someone told him. But when it came time to name his album, seventeen years after Harris’s album, “Wrecking Ball” must have seemed like the appropriate title of his new CD, capturing the themes of hard times, aging, fighting back, and rebuilding. It would be interesting to explore other films and CDs with the same titles. Thanks for the comment.

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