On 12/05/2012 04:18 AM, turquoiseb wrote: > --- 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 > > >
Worked a gig opening for the Byrds when Gram was in it. He was a high energy guy who never seemed to stop playing even off stage. The rest of the band hung out with Gram while I hung out with Mike Clark talking drums because he had gotten a set of Leedy's after using my Leedy set on an previous gig we did with them. Saw the Burrito Brothers a couple times and Gram's own band once. Saw EmmyLou at BumberShoot sometime in the 1990s. That was quite a show. I also have her DVD with her Spyboy band which is fusion jazz country.
