Emmylou Harris - "Light of the Stable" (1979) - Warner Bros.
Hello Friends,
We're taking things down a few notches tonight with the incomparable Emmylou Harris and her 1979 album of Christmas songs, Light of the Stable.
Great-sounding American roots music so get your fiddles and autoharps ready and dig out that mason jar full of moonshine, friends!
The record begins a take on Tex Logan's Christmas cowboy classic, "Christmas Time's A-Comin'" which sounds like an old fashioned Appalachian hoedown with finger pickin' a-plenty!
About half of the songs on the record are typical Holiday standards ("O Little Town of Bethlehem", "Away In A Manager", "The First Noel", "Little Drummer Boy" & "Silent Night".) And if we're being honest, these are all good versions of "the classics", but based on the strength of the originals and lesser-known tracks, we kind of wish she went more in that direction!
And speaking of which, the remaining songs include Rodney Crowell's "Angel Eyes" (which Emmylou would record as a duet with Willie Nelson on the Honeysuckle Rose soundtrack a year later); the bluegrassy, "Beautiful Star of Bethlehem"; the mostly a-cappella, somber Irish lullaby, "Golden Cradle"; and the titular track, "Light of the Stable" (with background harmonies courtesy of Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Neil Young... who can be distinctly heard at the right volume or with the right headphones!)
Her voice is as timeless and angelic-sounding as ever and the title track is worth the price of admission alone!
We like Emmylou Harris so much we can't even think of anything of funny to say about the album's cover art!
RATING: 4 White Candles Burnin', Old Heart's A-Yearnin' For the Folks at Home out of 5
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