All I Intended to Be

In 1995 Emmylou Harris cut "Wrecking Ball", the first of four ground breaking albums, that took her into new directions and defined a new musical genre, alternative country. Now, recording with producer (and ex husband) Brian Ahern for the first time in 25 years, Emmylou Harris looks back into the past on her own terms because her phrasing and the swirling sounds of those albums are much in evidence on this largely acoustic set.

Harris and Ahern have assembled a stellar cast of supporting musicians and singers for this production most of whom have recorded with her many times over her career. They include Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Glen D Hardin, Bill Payne and Buddy Miller.

The songs follow the themes of sorrow for love lost, death, low self esteem, growing old and, finally, the promise of redemption in "Beyond The Great Divide". There are some real gems in this collection, including "Gold" with Vince Gill and the most traditional country on offer, Patti Smith's exquisite "Moon Song", Billy Joe Shaver's "Old Five And Dimers Like Me" and her own "Sailing Around The Room" where, at the point of death, her spirit flies through the window to join with nature. Then, there is the Harris/McGarrigle song "How She Could Sing The Wildwood Flower" about the love that A P Carter had for his wife Sara - simply beautiful and not a dry eye in the house!

The production and musicianship are impeccable but the most memorable thing about this album is Emmylou's voice. Time has been kind to her glorious pipes which have come to define her as an icon of Americana and able to convey depths of emotions that most other artistes find impossible. Just listen to the despair in Gold when she sings "But though I flew on wings of angels/My feet were always made of clay."

Thus, with the simplest of materials, she has been able to transform them into carefully woven tapestries of gold and produce an album which ranks among her best.

The title : a fanfare, a declaration and a manifesto.

This collection of thirteen new recordings brings us
to some kind of pinnacle in Ms Harris's long career.

She must know this to be true. The evidence is there for us to hear.

After the dry, rasping austerity of 'Red Dirt Girl' (2000);
the warm, reassuring classicism of 'Stumble Into Grace' (2003)
and the uncomfortably eneven collaboration with Mr Knopfler,
'All The Road Running' (2006); 'All I Intended To Be' is a
trancendent epiphany. A true and perfect wonder.

Maturity of voice and musical vision; finely honed interpretive insight
and the ability to create a sense of intense gravitas from the simplest
ingredients are all marks of an artist functioning at the very
height of her remarkable powers.

A track by track deconstruction would seem somehow ignoble given
material of such consummate beauty.

Suffice to say that with the song 'All That You Have Is Your Soul'
the world seems to turn to face the sun. Music to warm the coldest spirit.

Either side of it twelve more wonderful examples of songs to raise
your hopes and break your heart.

Quintessential.

Inimitable.

Sublime.

Rapidly shaping up to be one of the best of 2008, this is probably Emmylou Harris's best record since Spyboy, although stylistically it is closer to Wrecking Ball, and I have to add that there was nothing at all wrong with the intervening works.

It was a well-placed, curiosity-pricking ad for Spyboy, Harris's 1998 live album, that got me started. Until then I'd only had a vague regard for the "country" genre. After, I was hooked, and was amazed at her ubiquity, finding her making appearances with Lucinda Williams, Nanci Griffith, Rodney Crowell, Sheryl Crow, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, as well as being the driving force behind the Gram Parsons tribute The Return Of The Grievous Angel (Brilliant. I don't care what the reviewers say).

And they return the compliment, with Dolly here joining Harris on Gold, their voices intertwining perfectly.

Emmylou Harris is not, of course, just about country. The rhythm section she brought to London in the wake of Spyboy would not, on the evidence of their jamming mid-concert, have looked out of place with Herbie Hancock. Ricky Skaggs, at one time part of Harris's band, remarked rather petulantly of her more recent music that it was "not country", but all of it, country and otherwise, shares a cabinet with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell and The Clash in my world. The label is everything and nothing.

But though country is, I guess, what this latest offering is closer to, what counts is that the songs, music and production add up to an exceptional experience.

Songs first. Some great originals; some superb covers. Standouts in the latter category are Merle Haggard's Kern River; Billy Joe Shaver's Old Five And Dimers Like Me; and a totally stunning version of Tracy Chapman's All That You Have Is Your Soul, which comes about closest to a political statement here, and has a trace of Lovin' You Again, from Cowgirl's Prayer, just as the rendition of Crowley and Routh's Beyond The Great Divide has a fade reminiscent of Gone, Long Gone from Trio II. Almost inevitably there is also a song cowritten by Harris with the McGarrigles, How She Could Sing The Wildwood Flower. Also inevitable is that the sisters joined in on the recording.

Musically there is a stellar array of contributors, armed with an arsenal of instrumentation from mandolin, through accordion, banjo and fiddle, together with the obligatory guitars, Dobro and steel and some exotica such as mandocello and baritone electric guitar. Musicians include old standbys such as Buddy Miller (the only thing a girl needs, as she described him when they appeared on Jools Holland's show) and John Starling.

Finally, the production, and the tribute to that element is that, although this collection has taken several years in gestation it sounds, as Bob Harris observed when Emmylou appeared on his radio programme, of one time.

Two closing notes. First, listening this gave me an even greater appetite to listen to Harris's back catalogue. And second, it is very seldom that I will play a record two times in succession: this is one of the exceptions.