Hi-Fi Holidays: Light of the Stable

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

To All The Girls

Willie Nelson - "To All The Girls" (2013) - Sony Legacy

Hello Friends and Happy New Year!

We've got a great double LP on 180 Gram Vinyl on the platter tonight!  Its a 2013 release by Willie Nelson featuring 18 songs (new & old) that he duets with some of his favorite female singers (new & old).

Normally, we're pretty skeptical of "duet"-type albums because they usually wind up sounding gimmicky, over-produced and with no chemistry between the artists. When we saw "Top 40" names like Miranda Lambert, Sheryl Crow & Carrie Underwood among the list of performers we were a little skeptical to say the least!  But fear not friends, our old pal Willie pulls this record off with near perfection and it sounds just as good as any one of his many classic records! 

You don't need to go too far beyond the very first track to fall in love with the album! It kicks off with an amazing acoustic duet with Dolly Parton on a song called, "From Here to the Moon and Back."  Instant Classic!!  Dolly (who wrote the song) sounds great!  Willie sounds great! And this sets the stage for the rest of the record which features unobtrusive production and laidback arrangements with Willie's velvety vocal chords and his signature acoustic guitar playing providing a backbone for the rest of the album.

Side One is also home to duets with Miranda Lambert, The Secret Sisters, Roseanne Cash & Sheryl Crow.  Side Two kicks off with a raucous update of Nelson's own, "Bloody Mary Morning" (with Wynonna Judd) which is followed by a fairly saccharine-version of Nelson's classic, "Always On My Mind" (with Carrie Underwood).  Not a great version, but certainly not enough to ruin the album.  Side Two also has a great duets with Loretta Lynn (Merle Haggard's "Somewhere Between"), Alison Krauss ("No Mas Amor"), and Melonie Cannon (honestly, we're not even sure who that is!)

Side Three opens with the stunning "Grandma's Hands", a fiery and heartbreaking Bill Withers song featuring R & B singer, Mavis Staples.  Side Three is rounded out by songs with Norah Jones ("Walkin"), Shelby Lynne ("Til The End of the World") and 18 year old, Lily Meola ("Will You Remember Mine").

Side Four starts out with Emmylou Harris joining Nelson on a cover of the seldom-heard Bruce Springsteen song, "Dry Lightning".  Alt-country singer, Brandi Carlile, joins in on the Kitty Wells' classic, "Making Believe" and Willie's own daughter, Paula Nelson, joins in on a sublime versions of Creedence's "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" (video here.)  

This would have been a very sweet and sappy end to this great album but Willie was never one to wallow too long in sentimentality.  The last track is an upbeat update of the Loretta Lynn-Conway Twitty cheater's duet, "After the Fire Is Gone" performed by Willie and Tina Rose (who, according to Google, is Leon Russell's daughter!)   

And there's nothing cold as ashes / After the fire is gone...

RATING: 4.5 Bloody Mary Mornings out of 5

Elite Hotel

Emmylou Harris - "Elite Hotel" (1975) - Reprise Records

Hello Friends, 

Kick back and relax because we're checking in to the Elite Hotel tonight!  There's no room service, but we got cable t.v., a comfortable bed and a tall bottle of wine chilling in the ice bucket!

Elite Hotel was Emmylou Harris's second amazing record released in 1975 (the first being, Pieces of the Sky) and a groundbreaking work in the burgeoning country-rock genre.  Like "Pieces", the ghost of Gram Parsons (Emmylou's close friend, object of affection and musical mentor who died of an overdose in '73) looms large over nearly every note on the album.  

Featuring three Gram Parsons songs ("Sin City", "Ooh Las Vegas" and "Wheels"), a Buck Owens cover ("Together Again"), a Don Gibson/Patsy Cline classic ("Sweet Dreams"), the Louvin Brothers ("Satan's Jeweled Crown"), Hank Williams ("Jambalaya") and even a Beatles song ("Here, There & Everywhere"), Elite Hotel is an eclectic mix of traditional country, alternative country, the blues, rock & roll, fast & slow, loud & quiet, light & dark.  A very 1970's country LP that put the focus on the album as a whole as opposed to one or two radio-friendly singles.

On all the songs, her voice is strong and ethereal with just the right amount of twang and vulnerability!  There's some great pedal steel guitar work on the record and Emmylou has a "Grade A" backing band, including Rodney Crowell, Glen D. Hardin, Ben Keith, Jonathan Edwards, James Burton and Linda Ronstadt among others.  Its a real hootenanny!

RATING: 4.5 Satan Jeweled Crowns out of 5