Blue Kentucky Girl

About

To the contemporary listener, Emmylou Harris’ hit album <i>Blue Kentucky Girl</i> might not feel <i>radically</i> different from the loose, mostly acoustic sounds of her first five albums (and indeed, it had the same producer, and a backing band full of familiar faces). But after the album’s 1979 release, <i>Blue Kentucky Girl</i> was perceived as Harris’ full pivot into country. And there <i>is</i> a decided emphasis on leaning into traditional sounds here, in contrast to the so-called progressive country and Laurel Canyon-rock leanings of her previous work. From the title track (which had been a hit for Loretta Lynn years earlier) to the hit “Beneath Still Waters” (which finds Harris tracing the common ground between Cajun accordion and Appalachian bluegrass), <i>Blue Kentucky Girl</i> is steeped in classic, all of them reinterpreted through Harris’ fresh, timeless len. It’s also the album that showcases Harris’ omnivorou, enthusiastic approach to collaboration, across a wide span of musical style. Willie Nelson’s “Sister’s Coming Home,” from his 1974 album <i>Phases and Stages</i>, is brightly interpreted by Harris and Tanya Tucker, while Harris and the White sisters join in stunning bluegrass-tinged harmony for noted folklorist Jean Ritchie’s “Sorrow in the Wind.” .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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