Emmylou Harris Archives - Page 5 of 6

Tribute to Guy Clark CD is “Stuff That Works”

One of my favorite recent CD purchases is This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark (2011), which I have had on repeat play since I got it in December. This One’s for Him is a solid 2-CD collection of songs by the wonderful Texas singer-songwriter Guy Clark. Although tribute albums often are hit-and-miss affairs with an uneven collection of interpretations by various artists, this one maintains a nice consistency throughout. One reason the CDs work so well is the consistency of Guy Clark’s writing, although tribute albums usually consist of well-written songs. Another reason that the listening experience is like listening to a CD by one artist is because the producers recorded live with the band and a limited number of overdubs, giving consistency throughout. Finally, the great collection holds up due to the group of artists assembled for the project. Although there are some famous singers on the collection, the producers clearly opted for talented musicians who love Clark’s music instead of just seeking big names, and the love comes through the music.

It is hard to choose a favorite song, but one of mine is Jack Ingram’s version of “Stuff that Works.” In a video no longer available on YouTube, Jack Ingram talked about his love of Guy Clark’s music, noting that the music feels “like the Truth.” The great thing about Clark’s songs is that he writes beautiful words to go with his beautiful music.

Stuff that works, stuff that holds up;
The kind of stuff you don’t hang on the wall;
Stuff that’s real, stuff you feel;
The kind of stuff you reach for when you fall.

Artists on the CD include a who’s who of great singers and songwriters: Rodney Crowell, Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Kris Kristofferson, Robert Earl Keen, Ray Wylie Hubbard, John Prine, and many more. [UPDATE: In a promotional video no longer on YouTube, Hayes Carll, who sings “Worry B Gone” on the tribute CD, talked about hanging out with Clark.]

If you are already a fan of Guy Clark’s music, you will love the CD. But if you are new to his music, the tribute CD is a great place to start. One of my favorite songs of all-time is Guy Clark’s “LA Freeway.” Radney Foster does an excellent job covering the song on the CD. I could not find his version on Youtube, so here is the songwriter’s version. He does a pretty good job too.

If I can just get off of this LA freeway,
Without getting killed or caught;
I’d be down that road in a cloud of smoke,
For some land that I ain’t bought — bought — bought.

“LA Freeway” captures the common longing for running off and being free. Even if you cannot make that kind of escape, you might come a little closer if while you’re on the road you pop in this CD.

Why “GUY”? (Steve Earle album review)

Nanci Griffith’s Superstars on Letterman: “Desperados Waiting for a Train”

Happy Birthday Willie Nelson, A Hero of This Country

The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris

Andrew Combs Need Not Be A “Worried Man” (CD Review)

If a Song Could Be President

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Buy from Amazon

The “Other” Wrecking Ball: Emmylou Harris

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)

Buy from Amazon

Thanksgiving with Marty Stuart: The Pilgrim

Stuart, Marty – The Pilgrim (Act I) (featuring Emmylou Harris) “The Pilgrim (Act I)” — featuring Emmylou Harris

With Thanksgiving approaching in the U.S., it seems appropriate to discuss one of my all-time favorite CDs, Marty Stuart’s The Pilgrim (1999). In another post, we discuss another Marty Stuart CD that covers the other side of the original Thanksgiving table.

Marty Stuart The Pilgrim — Click album photo to see outstanding Amazon reviews.

Although we often associate the word “pilgrim” with the English colonists who sailed on the Mayflower ship, settled in Plymouth, and dined on the first Thanksgiving meal, the word in its broader meaning applies to any traveler or more specifically, “one who embarks on a quest for something . . .sacred.”

It is in this sense that Marty Stuart’s concept album uses the word “pilgrim.” On the album, we first hear the word in Emmylou Harris’s voice on one of the first songs on the CD (above): “I am a lonesome Pilgrim, far from home/ . . . I might be tired and weary, but I’m strong / ‘Cause pilgrims walk, but not alone.”

The True Story Inspiration

The Pilgrim is based on a true story about people Stuart knew in his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi. Over the years, Stuart continued to think about the tale, and after attending Bill Monroe’s funeral, he began putting the story into an album.

The Pilgrim begins with the words of a man — the Pilgrim — who is in love with a friend, Rita. But unknown to the Pilgrim, Rita was married to Norman, who was jealous of his former beauty queen wife.

In the song “Harlan County,” bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, reveals Norman killed himself because he believed he had been betrayed. In “Reasons,” Marty Stuart recounts Norman’s suicide note, where Norman explained, “I keep looking for reasons.”

Norman’s suicide sends the Pilgrim on the road as he struggles with how his love for Rita led to Norman’s death. He drowns his troubles in alcohol (“Red, Red Wine and Cheating Songs“) and travels as a hobo, heading west for the Pacific Ocean and “trading sorrows for tomorrows,” while “Goin’ Nowhere Fast.”

During the Pilgrim’s travels, an observant crow sees the Pilgrim passing by in “Observations of a Crow”:

Take a look at that pilgrim, passing by;
He’s looking for love, I can see it in his eyes;
He’s running ’round in circles, you can take it from me;
His shadow begs for mercy of every lost and found,
In city after city, town after town,
Tortured by the memory of a love he thought was supposed to be.

Eventually, across the miles, in “The Greatest Love of All Time” and “Draggin’ Round These Chains of Love,” the Pilgrim thinks back on Rita. He considers his love for her despite everything that has happened.

The Pilgrim visits a small graveyard where his mother is buried. At his mother’s grave, in “Redemption,” he says, “I keep hearing her and Jesus say ‘Surrender son and rest.'” The Pilgrim finally is able to forgive himself and accept his love for Rita. He returns home to marry her and raise a family.

The Music: “A Fabulous Journey”

Of course, an album would not be great with just a good story. The music on the album is wonderful too, covering a number of styles of country music, including rockabilly, a drinking song, and some excellent short bluegrass instrumentals. While the songs together tell a story, they each may stand on their own outside the story too.

Marty Stuart’s voice tells most of the tale, but a few friends show up to help out, including Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, Pam Tillis, and George Jones. The music fits the Pilgrim’s tale perfectly throughout.

Unfortunately, the album did not do well in sales when it was first released, even though critics gave it good reviews. Because of the poor sales, MCA Nashville dropped Stuart from his record deal at the time.

In retrospect, Stuart has accepted the loss well, realizing he created something worth more than a sales number. Stuart recognizes, “But when all of those plastic things that came out around that time are gone, The Pilgrim will still be around.”

The Pilgrim is one of the great overlooked country CDs of recent decades. Johnny Cash called it “a fabulous journey.” You might discount Johnny’s statement because he was friends with Stuart. Also, he helped with the album, as his deep booming voice provides the final words on the album, quoting Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Sir Galahad.”

But if you do not trust Johnny’s assessment, you can trust me.

I am a lonesome Pilgrim, far from home,
And what a journey I have known.
I might be tired and weary, but I’m strong;
‘Cause pilgrims walk, but not alone.

May your journeys this Thanksgiving and throughout the holiday season all be safe and happy ones.

What do you think of The Pilgrim? Leave your two cents in the comments.

The First Farm Aid

Taxi Driver Music: “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33”

Marty Stuart’s Celebration of “The Pilgrim” Through A Wall-to-Wall Odyssey

Emmylou Harris Covers Steve Earle’s “The Pilgrim”

Crazy Horse: The Last Warrior Standing, Defending the Old Way of Life

Cowboy Jack Clement: “I Guess Things Happen That Way”

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Taxi Driver Music: “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33”

Martin Scorsese made deliberate choices in the music for “Taxi Driver,” including Kris Kristofferson’s “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33.”

In a recent post, we discussed the link between Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks and the movie Taxi Driver (1976). In this post, we consider a musical connection between the movie and another song: Kris Kristofferson’s “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33.”

In Taxi Driver, perhaps the one moment a viewer might think that there is a slight bit of hope for Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) is when he first courts Betsy (Cybill Shepherd). After he charms her into going to a diner for a bite to eat, she quotes a song: “He’s a prophet, he’s a pusher… partly truth and partly fiction… a walking contradiction.” Bickle focuses on the “pusher part,” saying he has never been a pusher, but she explains she brought it up for the “walking contradiction” part. Bickle is amused, and a later scene shows him at a record store, apparently buying the album, which he later gives to her on their next date. And then he ruins the date by taking her to see a pornographic film.

Although we do not hear the song or the name of the song in those scenes, the quote is from Kris Kristofferson’s song “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33,” which was off of his second album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I (1971). The album’s biggest hit was “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again),” and the album also included Kristofferson’s version of “Jody and the Kid.”

“The Pilgrim, Chapter 33,” which was not a hit for Kristofferson, has held up well through the years. A number of artists have covered the song, including Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Jerry Lee Lewis (with Kristofferson).

When a tribute CD was put together for Kristofferson, they took the song for the title of the CD, The Pilgrim: A Celebration Of Kris Kristofferson. On that album, in the introduction to the title track, Kristofferson explains that he wrote that song “for a good friend of mine, Donny Fritts [Kristofferson’s long-time keyboard player], and Dennis Hopper and Johnny Cash. . .” and then he goes on to list a number of people ranging from Ramblin’ Jack Elliott to Mickey Newbury to “maybe me and I guess my father.” As Kristofferson has aged and seeped into musical legend as one of our classic country elders, the song seems to be more and more about him.

It is a beautiful song, and while like Astral Weeks it is not completely in sync with the story of Travis Bickle, you can see where Martin Scorsese got a little inspiration from the song. Like “Madame George,” the song “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33” also contains some of the themes of isolation and loneliness that Martin Scorsese tried to capture in Taxi Driver.

He has tasted good and evil in your bedrooms and your bars,
And he’s traded in tomorrow for today;
Runnin’ from his devils, Lord, and reachin’ for the stars,
And losin’ all he’s loved along the way;
But if this world keeps right on turnin’ for the better or the worse,
And all he ever gets is older and around,
From the rockin’ of the cradle to the rollin’ of the hearse,
The goin’ up was worth the comin’ down.

Like many of Kristofferson’s songs, it works as pure poetry. His lyrics in “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33,” describe a man of contradictions, leaving much room for interpretation.

I have never read an explanation for the “Chapter 33” in the title, but I suspect it is a reference to a man being near the end of his life, just as Chapter 33 will fall near the end of a book. Perhaps that is why the song seems to describe so many of the brilliant artists mentioned by Kristofferson in the introduction mentioned above.

May we all be so lucky that the going up is worth the coming down.

In another performance, Kristofferson interprets the song with a more upbeat version of the song with a full band.

Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson Put Johnny Cash’s Poetry to Music

The First Farm Aid

Cowboy Jack Clement: “I Guess Things Happen That Way”

Tribute to Guy Clark CD is “Stuff That Works”

“Bird on a Wire” and the Return of the Bald Eagle

Devil’s Right Hand Arrest in New York City

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Buy from Amazon

Van Morrison: Til I Gain Control Again

In addition to all of his other musical accomplishments, the Northern-Ireland-born Van Morrison is one of the greatest living interpreters of American music, be it blues, jazz, or R&B. One of his best albums in recent years is Pay the Devil (2006), where the entire CD is devoted to country music. And a standout track on the album is Rodney Crowell’s “Til I Gain Control Again,” which first appeared on Crowell’s 1981 self-titled album.

“Til I Gain Control Again” is a beautiful song about love and heartbreak, where the singer realizes that it is too late to plead for reconciliation but is not yet able to let go. So the singer’s request is not for promises or for a future, but merely “I only hope that you can hold me now /Til I can gain control again.” Crowell has explained that the line, “There are some turns where I will spin,” means that the despair will happen again (“I’ll always pass this way again”). There may not be a sadder song about love’s end.

Crowell wrote the song not long after he first arrived in Nashville, and has explained he wrote it in sort of a “three-day trance” where it was like the song came to him from another dimension. He also noted that one of the reasons he wrote the song was to get the attention of another great songwriter, Townes Van Zandt. An article from the New York Observer has a good interview with Crowell, where the article’s author concludes that “Til I Gain Control Again” is “one of those songs that are strong enough to change your life.”

Crowell’s version is fantastic, and there are several excellent covers by other great artists. Emmylou Harris was the first to record the song, which appeared on her 1975 album, Elite Hotel. Other artists who have covered the song include Waylon Jennings, Raul Malo, Albert Lee, and Willie Nelson.

Interestingly, in an interview on Texas Monthly‘s One By Willie podcast, Crowell explained how his favorite version is a studio recording by Willie Nelson where Crowell sang background. Unfortunately, that version is not widely available, appearing only on an out-of-print album sold as a bonus when people ordered by mail Nelson’s IRS Tapes. Instead, Nelson has released several live versions of the “Til I Gain Control Again.”

This live version below has both Willie and Emmylou. Check it out.

Crystal Gayle had the biggest hit with “Til I Gain Control Again,” taking it to number one in 1982. If you want something different, This Mortal Coil does an interesting sort of Goth Emo version.

It is hard to pick a favorite version, but Van Morrison’s voice and interpretation give a soulful spin on “Til I Gain Control Again.” Although most of the artists who have recorded the song come from the country genre, Morrison does something a little different with the song, taking a brilliant song with so many excellent covers and making it his own.