--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, laughinggull108 <no_reply@...> wrote: > > Couldn't agree more Barry. I'm a huge fan of both artists. > Enjoy this one as my contribution to the Harmony that is > Wednesday on FFL: > > http://youtu.be/_xX5XY49dSU
Lovely song, and lovely tribute to her mentor and discoverer. Emmylou's talent, as commented on by so many other artists she's worked with over the years, such as Mark Knopfler, is that she's an "intuitive harmonist." She doesn't need sheet music or a pre- agreement about what type of harmony she's going to add to a song, she just picks up the melody after the first verse (even if she's never heard it before) and adds the perfect harmony part. A number of musicians have this ability, including David Crosby and Graham Nash and, supposedly, Art Garfunkel, not to mention a number of Country stars. I tend to respect this *spontaneous* ability to add just the right harmony part more than I do the ability to sit down and chart out the harmonies in sheet music and then reproduce them vocally. Maybe it's a facet of that area of the brain that "lights up" when artists are improvising that I posted some research about earlier. You can "feel" it through the music. Gram was a hard-living dude whose lifestyle took him out far too early. But his influence on pop music was profound. He introduced the Byrds to his brand of "high mountain harmonies," and then went on to found the seminal country-rock band The Flying Burrito Brothers, whose influence is still being felt. When he met Emmylou in a club and heard her voice, he knew immediately that he'd found his muse. I once owned an album -- very rare -- that Emmylou put out on an obscure label before she ever met Gram, and became famous in her own right. It was *terrible*. What had happened was that some lame studio exec had found her and tried to turn her into a Joni Mitchell clone. <insert Ahnold's voice from "Predator" here> "Bahd idea." If you love her voice, and harmony, if you don't know her work with Mark Knopfler, or the two "Trio" albums she did in conjunction with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, you should. There are some magical moments in all of them. Here are a couple from these pairings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFdxvi2rlTw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_FLLz4UN2Q > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > Not everybody's cuppa tea (or, given the singer, whiskey), > > but definitely mine. As I said before, I'm a sucker for > > what Gram Parsons used to call "high mountain harmony," > > two or more voices taking old melodies and soaring into > > the stratosphere with them. Few have ever done this as > > well as Gram did on his album "Grievous Angel," singing > > with the then-unknown Emmylou Harris. > > > > I'm a Roy Orbison fan, but even he admitted that this > > is the best version of his song ever recorded: > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLUPWHTaceE&feature=fvsr > > > > The classic "road song,"...I just love Emmylou's rise > > at the end: > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PytxPaU6k4 > > > > A prayer, of sorts...with the ultimate Prodigal Son > > singing in the choir alongside the angel: > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERhhkjqDGsA&feature=BFa&list=AL94UKMTqg-9AndbSIHNuXsqW0DsVuIK3H > > >
