They’ve been musical associates on and off almost 40 years. Singer-songwriter/guitarist Rodney Crowell was a key member of Emmylou Harris’ legendary Hot Band in the mid-’70s and wrote some of her most memorable songs, including her live standard, ‘Till I Can Gain Control Again’.
Surprisingly this is their first ever full album collaboration (and significantly, Harris’ first ‘real’ country record in almost 20 years). They are joined on these 12 tracks by several other members of the original Hot Band, including singer Vince Gill, who adds a harmony vocal to the opening number, the jaunty ‘Hanging Up My Heart’ (written by another Hot Band alumnus, Hank de Vito.) Most of the songs have been around a while in various guises. They include a new version of ‘Bluebird Wine’, a Crowell song that appeared on Harris’s 1975 debut Pieces Of The Sky. Also of interest will be the poignant ballad ‘Spanish Dancer’, written by one Patti Scialfa (Mrs Bruce Springsteen) and featured on her overlooked 1993 album Rumble Doll.
Elsewhere, a straightforward reading of the Waylon Jennings hit ‘Dreaming My Dreams’ has a tasty lick from Telecaster legend James Burton – yet another original member of the Hot Band. while ‘Open Season On My Heart’, part-written by Crowell and a hit for Tim McGraw, recalls Bob Dylan’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’. A highlight is the poignant title-track (recorded around a kitchen table), while another standout is Matraca Berg’s reflective, nostalgic ballad, ‘Back When We Were Beautiful’.