When I saw Emmylou Harris live earlier this year she played three songs from this album ‘Luxury Liner’ showing the enduring importance of her best selling album. Released in 1976 it was again produced by her future husband Brian Ahern (who she married shortly after its release) and was her second number one country album in a row after Elite Hotel.
Other artists in country music at the time like Loretta Lynn and Dolly sang songs mainly dealing with issues specific to women, often solo written about their own experiences. Like her friend Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou chose a different path. Luxury Liner, and many of her other albums in this era, were mainly composed of songs written by men, a choice which, subconsciously or not, helped to widen her appeal to male fans of both country and rock.
For the title track Luxury Liner, she chose an obscure song by Gram Parsons that was essentially a new song to most listeners. The song’s new arrangement turns it into an absolute barnstormer, pushing the tempo as far as the Hot Band can go, with some brilliant guitar work from Albert Lee. Emmylou said ‘the instrumentation of the Hot Band reached a kind of peak.’ Lyrically it’s equally as interesting as she flips the gender of the song, singing ‘I’m the kind of girl who likes to make my living running round’ making her seem more wild and free than most women singing in country music. The song belonged to Emmylou instantly and no wonder she still loves to sing it now.
The other song which has become an Emmylou standard is her version of Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Pancho and Lefty’. Emmylou said of the song, “Townes recorded it, and I didn’t write it, but I always think that song is mine. I planted my flag right there. It became a very pivotal song in my repertoire.” The haunting beauty of the delivery is just timeless. Emmylou has said she wants it to be ‘one of the last songs I ever sing before I kick the bucket. It will never grow old for me.’ And no doubt all her fans feel the same about this enduring, emotional epic.
‘Making Believe’ had been sung by Kitty Wells, topping the charts in 1955 and also covered by Anita Carter. Emmylou softens the rougher edges of the song for the seventies, letting her stunning voice convey the longing dream of a lost love.
There’s a nod to a more modern sound on ‘You’re Supposed to Be Feeling Good’ which was an original written by Rodney Crowell, with guitar work that feels much more seventies rock than her usual Americana. Rodney also turned Emmylou onto the song I’ll Be Your San Antone Rose which is a perfect two stepping Texan song written by Susanna Clark, then wife of Guy and close friend of Townes. The song had first been released by singer Dottsy, reaching number 12 in the country charts in 1975. By choosing a female songwriter Emmylou offers a different, more romantic side to her music, and she easily elevates the original with her classy vocal performance.
The classic Chuck Berry ‘C’est La Vie’ is in the centre of the album and it’s a song that Emmylou has cooled on over time, saying that ‘it just lost its appeal after a while’. The song’s tale of a teenage wedding lacks the emotional depth she craves in a song and the use of the original in Pulp Fiction brought with it a further sense of superficial novelty. She said a few years back that she didn’t think she’d sing it ever again but she played it live earlier this year on her European farewell tour. For me the song felt like a perfect floorfilling, raucous way to end a live show. So her decision to resurrect the tune just proves the song’s hook: it goes to show you never can tell.
When I Stop Dreaming features Dolly Parton on harmony vocals in their first released collaboration (Emmylou had covered Dolly’s Coat of Many Colors on her Pieces of the Sky album and Emmylou had appeared with Linda on Dolly’s show in April of 1976). This song was likely recorded during the first aborted attempt at the Trio album during this year and has that same haunting old timey feel of that album. Completing the harmony was Fayssoux Starling who had also sung on Elite Hotel and would sing with Emmylou live when she had the chance, despite not being a full time musician (she only released her own solo album in 2008!). Dolly went on to release a version of the song with Don Henley for his country album.
Emmylou’s harmonising with Dolly is then quickly followed by ‘Hello Stranger’ featuring Nicolette Larsen, showing just how well she could sing with other women. This one was another nod to Emmylou’s love of the Carter Family and features gorgeous mandolin. Thanks to her work with Emmylou, Nicolette went on to meet Linda who then introduced her to Neil Young, and she ended up singing on some of his biggest songs before her untimely death.
The song ‘She’ was another Gram song, from his debut solo record and Emmylou’s version has some gorgeous pedal steel from Hank DeVito. By singing the version starkly alone without the harmony heard on the other songs, Emmylou sounds like she could be walking across that big old field and singing to the wind. An evocative and essential song to understand the power and beauty of Emmylou’s voice.
The only song that Emmylou has a writing credit on is the other collaboration with Rodney Crowell, Tulsa Queen. Songs about trains just never get old and this one has all the sadness and longing of the best country songs of the era.
The Deluxe version of the album also includes a tragically beautiful song called ‘Willie & Me’ which was written by Laurie Hyde-Smith. You can see why a song like this would appeal to Emmylou, with its story of a relationship between a doomed singer songwriter who drinks himself to death – lines like ‘you wouldn’t think a man so weak could be so strong’ evoke Gram’s ghost. The song is actually told from the perspective of a fellow singer who gives up her career in music because she can’t stand to watch this guy Willie destroy himself. Recently the song became a personal favourite of singer Michaela Anne who began covering the song and this led to a friendship with the songwriter. Her essay on the importance of the song to her is a beautiful read and shows how a cover song can take on a new life every time it’s sung – for Michaela the song became a testament to the importance of sticking to your dream and never giving up music.
What Luxury Liner proves is that some songs can never really be called covers – when you truly inhabit a song then it no longer belongs to the songwriter. Emmylou said, “You have to go deeper down in yourself with a song that someone else has written, because it has to resonate for you.” Every song on Luxury Liner mines the depths of Emmylou’s soul and the songs take on mythic status.
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