Cimarron
A lot of people are lamenting the sorry state of country music today, with it
making more and more concessions to popular tastes. While I admit to being one
of those naysayers, I go for country music that takes risks, but still has
enough twang to truly be called country. And sure enough, Emmylou Harris can
best be called one of the first country artists to venture outside the confines
of the genre, and still be accepted as one of country's own. A protege of the
legendary country-rock godfather Gram Parsons, Emmylou has been bringing her
distinctive style to just about every song from country to folk to straightahead
rock. Thanks to that, some of the most unlikely songs have become country
standards in spite of their non-country pedigrees. By 1981's CIMARRON, Emmylou
had been making music for well over a decade (although her first album PIECES OF
THE SKY was released in 1975). As a hitmaker, her days were coming to an end,
but as an innovator, she hadn't yet begun to quit. Emmylou can take even the
most well-worn country standards, and make them sound as if they were written
yesterday like that old warhorse "Tennessee Waltz", a short 2:30 song in an
album filled with numerous 4-minute tunes (which is near-epic-length for country
music). I'm sure every country singer worth their salt has attempted "Tennesee
Waltz" at one time or another, but Emmylou does what she has done numerous times
before, making it sound like it was written for her all along. Other country
greats given a new lease on life by Emmylou include "The Last Cheater's Waltz"
(originally a hit for T.G. Sheppard), which is a much longer version so as to
showcase the excellent musicianship of her band, "Son Of A Rotten Gambler"
(written by Chip Taylor, who also penned such disparate ditties as "Wild Thing"
and "Angel Of The Morning"), and the traditional "Spanish Is A Loving Tongue".
But to prove that Emmylou was more risk-taking than her fellow country-ites,
CIMARRON has its share of more modern, contemporary numbers. "Rose Of Cimarron"
was originally a hit song for the country-rock band Poco; "If I Needed You" (a
duet with country great Don Williams) was written by legendary folk
singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt; "The Price You Pay" originally appeared on
Bruce Springsteen's double album THE RIVER (1980). All of these are given enough
country sound to make one forget the fact they were written by people far from
the country radar as possible. The other songs on CIMARRON were probably written
especially for the album: "Another Lonely Morning" is a great song just looking
for someone to cover it (even if it may not be better than Emmylou's); "Born To
Run" (NOT the Bruce Springsteen classic) was written by Paul Kennerley, who
would later become Emmylou's third husband; "Tennessee Rose" was written by
Emmylou band member Hank DeVito. With all those wonderful songs, CIMARRON was a
wonderful album already, but because it has been released on CD for the very
first time, the deal is made even sweeter with the inclusion of a rare song
called "Colors Of Your Heart", written by former Emmylou bandmate Rodney
Crowell. While he had long went solo from her, this song proves why Crowell is
one of Emmylou's favorite songwriters, and also a fellow "modern traditionalist"
like her. After CIMARRON would come the live album LAST DATE, which was unique
in the fact that it contained songs Emmylou had not yet recorded in the studio.
Unfortunately, that would be her last truly successful album on the charts. But
that allowed Emmylou to experiment even more with her music, resulting in such
uncategorizable masterpieces like WRECKING BALL (1995) and RED DIRT GIRL (2000).
For those who were introduced to Emmylou Harris courtesy of those classics,
earlier albums like CIMARRON will help show that she's had it in her for more
than 3 decades, and hopefully, is not thinking of slowing down any time soon.
