Prin's Blues Page: November 2008

There's not a lot that you can download on youtube of Emmylou Harris, most have embedding disabled. I was on the Crook & Liars Late Night Music Club very early this morning and they reminded me of Emmylou Harris and I thank them for that :) Not that she's ever very far from my heart. I credit her with giving me my freedom as a woman way back when I wasn't yet a full grown woman, but just a child.

You can't hardly do a post about Emmylou without including Gram Parsons.

"One night in 1971 members of the country rock group The Flying Burrito Brothers happened to be in the audience. Former Byrds member Chris Hillman, who had taken over the band after the departure of its founder Gram Parsons, was so impressed by Harris that he briefly considered asking her to join the band. Instead, Hillman ended up recommending her to Parsons, who was looking for a female vocalist to work with on his first solo album, GP. Harris toured as a member of Parsons' band, The Fallen Angels, in 1973, and the couple shone during vocal harmonies and duets. Harris was quite pleased, and invested a lot emotionally in their relationship. Later that year, Parsons and Harris were working together to record a studio album, Grievous Angel. Parsons died in his motel room near what is now Joshua Tree National Park on September 19, 1973, from an accidental overdose of drugs and alcohol. Parsons's Grievous Angel was released posthumously in 1974 and three more tracks from his last sessions with Harris were included on another posthumous Parsons album, Sleepless Nights, in 1976. There was one more album of recorded material from that period of time that was packaged with the name, Live 1973, but wasn't released until 1982."

"Harris was instrumental in bringing attention to Parsons's vision and achievements. Harris' earliest signature song, and arguably her most personal one, "Boulder to Birmingham", written shortly after Gram's death, showed the depth of her shock and pain at losing Parsons. It was, according to her friend Linda Ronstadt, the beginning of a "lifetime effort to process what had happened", noting the number of songs written and/or performed by Harris about her life with (and without) Parsons." Wikipedia

Here is an interview with Gram Parsons on how they met :)

That's All It Took

This video emitomizes their harmony.

Boulder to Birmingham

My favorite--Til I Gain Control Again

In My Dreams

Prescious Memories w/ Chet Atkins on Mandolin

Wafaring Stranger

Another Favorite--One of These Days

Have to include this one because you can't grow up in the south without having this gospel song embedded in your soul

w/Johnny Cash

ok, that's it...have a great Sunday!

My Penguin guide to the blues book is packed up at the moment so click the title link for a condensed version on wikipedia. Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson and Sam and Dave were my first introductions to the music that I so love now. I think I was about ten when I made my first discovery, but the very first songs to make a lasting impression on me were Jackie Wilson's "Higher and Higher" and Percy Sledge's "Cover Me". To date "Cover Me" is still my all time favorite song, if I have to choose one :)

Cover Me