The early ’90’s could not have been a better time for Country music. It was a global industry, perhaps bigger than it ever was, and with acts like Garth Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus, millions of records were shifting quicker than ever before. Brooks himself would fill stadiums all around the world. His songs were unavoidable. Urbanites everywhere had no shame in making pricks of themselves at Karaoke parties, bus trips and weddings, as they would grasp a belt-buckle, do that irritating nod at the start of each line and get incredibly excited because the song had the word ‘ass’ in it. Yep, Country music was everywhere, in all its 1950s conservative white right-wing glory. It was hell on earth, although that’s probably an insult to the devil - ‘At least he fucking jams’, as the Bill Hicks reminded us, right?
Adding insult to injury, the global industry that Country Music was becoming saw a greater focus on younger acts and less attention directed towards the established names such as Johnny Cash, George Jones and Emmylou Harris. Harris parted company with her record label Reprise after the release of a live album in 1992. After this she signed to Electra Records, home of an array of artists with a more specialised leaning such as Natalie Merchant, Jackson Browne and, in the past, influential figures such as Phil Ochs and Tim Buckley. Such a label could accommodate the ambitiousness of an artist like Harris in a way that her previous bosses couldn’t or wouldn’t.
Around this time Harris spoke out at the staid environment that was engulfing Nashville: “It seemed like everything had a sameness to it. There's always some good stuff out there, but overall, the more popular country music has become, the more constricting and narrow it's become.”
It was vital for Harris that her latest project at this time was to be everything that the mainstream Country fare populating the charts was not. ‘Wrecking Ball’, released in 1995 was just that, and much more with it. Harris collaborated with influential producer Daniel Lanois for the project. This was a big step for a start, as Lanois’ experimental approach alone was on a different planet from the safe regimental production of Nashville.
Lanois was perhaps most noted for his work with U2. Along with Brian Eno, Lanois was instrumental in developing the Dublin band’s sound with the seminal ‘Unforgettable Fire’ album in 1984, ‘The Joshua Tree’ in 1987 and again with ‘Achtung Baby’ in 1991. He was also responsible for revitalising Bob Dylan. Dylan’s 1989 collaboration with Lanois, ‘Oh Mercy’, was Dylan’s best-received album of what was previously a very uneven decade.
For ‘Wrecking Ball’ Lanois recruited many of his regular studio colleagues, such as Larry Mullen Jnr, Malcolm Burn, Brian Blade and Daryl Johnston. Neil Young also appeared, adding vocals to a number of tracks, including the title track which he penned himself.
Lanois’ atmospheric guitar sound, which coloured ‘Oh Mercy’ so beautifully, makes its mark instantly on the opening track ‘Where Will I Be?’ It’s immediately evident when we hear Harris’ lucid vocals merge with the Lanois sound that this is going to be a perfect marriage of varying layers and textures, all appropriate and serving a purpose. So packed with sound and activity is the track that it’s almost two minutes before any trace of a bass guitar is introduced.
Renowned as a great song interpreter, Harris literally breathes new life into material written by the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Lucinda Williams, Jimi Hendrix and Steve Earle. On the title-track her emotive whisper backed by a minimal arrangement and a Neil Young guest vocal has a haunting quality that is even superior to the original; Young would surely conceded this too. Her reading of Dylan’s ‘Every Grain of Sand’ also possesses a passion that studio production perhaps diminished slightly on Dylan’s original.*
Of the original material that Harris and Lanois collaborated on, ‘Deeper Well’ has a dusty Southern mystical quality. Simplistic and tribal in rhythm, it’s a stand out track on an album mostly jammed with songs written by the cream of American songwriters – perhaps the ultimate compliment to Harris.
Lanois’ greatest success on ‘Wrecking Ball’ was to maintain the quality of Harris’ vocals amid the new environment in which he had placed it. It was a formula that worked and worked well. So impressed was Harris with ‘Wrecking Ball’ that she worked with Lanois yet again for the follow up, 1999’s ‘Red Dirt Girl’. The focus this time was to be on material penned by Harris, including a moving personal ode to her father on ‘Bang The Drum Slowly’. It was another well-received collaboration, and another vindication of Harris’ decision to play by her own rules.
Adding insult to injury, the global industry that Country Music was becoming saw a greater focus on younger acts and less attention directed towards the established names such as Johnny Cash, George Jones and Emmylou Harris. Harris parted company with her record label Reprise after the release of a live album in 1992. After this she signed to Electra Records, home of an array of artists with a more specialised leaning such as Natalie Merchant, Jackson Browne and, in the past, influential figures such as Phil Ochs and Tim Buckley. Such a label could accommodate the ambitiousness of an artist like Harris in a way that her previous bosses couldn’t or wouldn’t.
Around this time Harris spoke out at the staid environment that was engulfing Nashville: “It seemed like everything had a sameness to it. There's always some good stuff out there, but overall, the more popular country music has become, the more constricting and narrow it's become.”
It was vital for Harris that her latest project at this time was to be everything that the mainstream Country fare populating the charts was not. ‘Wrecking Ball’, released in 1995 was just that, and much more with it. Harris collaborated with influential producer Daniel Lanois for the project. This was a big step for a start, as Lanois’ experimental approach alone was on a different planet from the safe regimental production of Nashville.
Lanois was perhaps most noted for his work with U2. Along with Brian Eno, Lanois was instrumental in developing the Dublin band’s sound with the seminal ‘Unforgettable Fire’ album in 1984, ‘The Joshua Tree’ in 1987 and again with ‘Achtung Baby’ in 1991. He was also responsible for revitalising Bob Dylan. Dylan’s 1989 collaboration with Lanois, ‘Oh Mercy’, was Dylan’s best-received album of what was previously a very uneven decade.
For ‘Wrecking Ball’ Lanois recruited many of his regular studio colleagues, such as Larry Mullen Jnr, Malcolm Burn, Brian Blade and Daryl Johnston. Neil Young also appeared, adding vocals to a number of tracks, including the title track which he penned himself.
Lanois’ atmospheric guitar sound, which coloured ‘Oh Mercy’ so beautifully, makes its mark instantly on the opening track ‘Where Will I Be?’ It’s immediately evident when we hear Harris’ lucid vocals merge with the Lanois sound that this is going to be a perfect marriage of varying layers and textures, all appropriate and serving a purpose. So packed with sound and activity is the track that it’s almost two minutes before any trace of a bass guitar is introduced.
Renowned as a great song interpreter, Harris literally breathes new life into material written by the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Lucinda Williams, Jimi Hendrix and Steve Earle. On the title-track her emotive whisper backed by a minimal arrangement and a Neil Young guest vocal has a haunting quality that is even superior to the original; Young would surely conceded this too. Her reading of Dylan’s ‘Every Grain of Sand’ also possesses a passion that studio production perhaps diminished slightly on Dylan’s original.*
Of the original material that Harris and Lanois collaborated on, ‘Deeper Well’ has a dusty Southern mystical quality. Simplistic and tribal in rhythm, it’s a stand out track on an album mostly jammed with songs written by the cream of American songwriters – perhaps the ultimate compliment to Harris.
Lanois’ greatest success on ‘Wrecking Ball’ was to maintain the quality of Harris’ vocals amid the new environment in which he had placed it. It was a formula that worked and worked well. So impressed was Harris with ‘Wrecking Ball’ that she worked with Lanois yet again for the follow up, 1999’s ‘Red Dirt Girl’. The focus this time was to be on material penned by Harris, including a moving personal ode to her father on ‘Bang The Drum Slowly’. It was another well-received collaboration, and another vindication of Harris’ decision to play by her own rules.
Naturally the straight-laced Country set did not take to ‘Wrecking Ball’ very well. Harris had already foreseen the lack of airplay it would receive on the mainstream Country stations now populated by a younger blander breed of performer. But it wasn’t about airplay. It was about following an artistic instinct without the constraints laid down but the suits and Stetsons. Harris continues to play by her own rules with a dignity and self-determination that is to be admired and taken note of. As Nashville becomes an increasingly corporate enterprise, it’s good to know that there are still a few real outlaws out there.
*for the best version of Dylan's 'Every Grain of Sand', check the Dylan Bootleg Series Volume 3. It's rough, ready, not always in tune, and basically a demo, and there's even what appears to be a dog barking in the background, but it possesses an emotion that is slightly lost in the eventual and still impressive studio version in my humble opinion.
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