EMMYLOU HARRIS
and RODNEY CROWELL
The Traveling Kind
Nonesuch

www.nonesuch.com
 

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell won a Grammy for their 2013 release Old Yellow Moon and fortunately for us, they’ve followed it up with another tasty offering. This time, they wrote some great new material alone and with co-writers like Will Jennings. Then, they recorded it in six days with producer Joe Henry (Billy Bragg, Elvis Costello). Crowell says, “The experience was pretty much akin to falling off a log.” It sounds that effortless, like they’ve done twenty albums together, but not tired, like a duo who’s been together too long. There’s a nostalgic feel with many of the songs, from a Memphis vibe to rootsy rockabilly. And those voices! They’re different but yet they blend so well. Emmylou’s achingly pure country tone and Rodney’s rougher but warm sound are like butter on fresh baked bread.
 
The title cut has a traveling kind of groove, wonderful for this bittersweet song about resting after your work is done. “No Memories Hanging Around” is classic country with a roots edge – weeping pedal steel, a twangy guitar, and of course, a fiddle break. A rattley snare with bursts of electric guitar propel “Bring It On Home to Memphis.” It would sound right at home on a jukebox in some rough roadhouse. “You Can’t Say We Didn’t Try” has a great opening line, “Just because we’re scared / Doesn’t mean we’re wrong.” Definitely cry-in-your-beer material. There’s a danceable groove and a slap-back vocal in “The Weight of the World,” like vintage Elvis. Harris sings “Higher Mountains,” about missing a loved one. The pensive electric guitar that wavers under the acoustic guitar helps pull at the heartstrings. They cover Lucinda Williams’s “I Just Wanted to See You So Bad” with more of a modern country-rock sound than the rest of the songs. I love the clever lyrics in “If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home Now,” a song chastising an ex, set to a driving beat and classic country guitars. It’s followed by a sweet acoustic ballad, “Her Hair Was Red,” penned by Amy Allison. “La Danse de la Joie” may be a dance tune, but it’s the kind where you hold your sweetie close. With a few French lyrics, an accordion and a bed of fiddles, it sounds like something played at last call at a small Cajun bar. This is a great album y’all. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was another Grammy in the works.

— Jamie Anderson