Cowgirl's Prayer

Last updated
Cowgirl's Prayer
Emmylou Harris - Cowgirl's Prayer.png
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 28, 1993
Recorded1993
Studio Nashville
Genre Country
Label
Producer Allen Reynolds, Richard Bennett
Emmylou Harris chronology
At the Ryman
(1992)
Cowgirl's Prayer
(1993)
Wrecking Ball
(1995)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [2]
Entertainment Weekly A+ [3]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [4]
Orlando Sentinel Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [6]

Cowgirl's Prayer is the seventeenth studio album by American country artist Emmylou Harris, released on September 28, 1993, by Warner Bros. Records. Coming immediately after 1992's live acoustic At the Ryman album, Cowgirl's Prayer is a collection of similarly subdued material (with a couple of rockers thrown in, notably "High Powered Love", the album's first single). Released at a time when older artists (i.e. anyone over 40) were being dropped from country radio playlists, the album received little airplay, despite positive reviews, and its relative commercial failure is said to have served as a catalyst for Harris's decision to change course with the harder edged sound of her subsequent work, beginning with 1995's rockish Wrecking Ball , thus rendering Cowgirl's Prayer Harris's last mainstream country album.

Contents

Despite the lack of radio airplay, accompanying videos for the album's three singles, "High Powered Love", the Cajun-themed "Crescent City", and Jesse Winchester's "Thanks to You", received considerable exposure on CMT.

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."A Ways to Go" Lainie Marsh 3:38
2."The Light" Kieran Kane, Emmylou Harris2:29
3."High Powered Love" Tony Joe White 3:08
4."You Don't Know Me" Eddy Arnold, Cindy Walker 3:07
5."Prayer in Open D"Emmylou Harris4:17
6."Crescent City" Lucinda Williams 3:31
7."Lovin' You Again" Roger D. Ferris 5:31
8."Jerusalem Tomorrow" David Olney 4:17
9."Thanks to You" Jesse Winchester 3:56
10."I Hear a Call" Tony Arata 2:50
11."Ballad of a Runaway Horse" Leonard Cohen 5:35

Personnel

Chart performance

Chart (1993)Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums34
U.S. Billboard 200152
Canadian RPM Country Albums19

Release history

Release history and formats for Cowgirl's Prayer
RegionDateFormatLabelRef.
North AmericaSeptember 28, 1993
  • CD
  • cassette
  • Asylum Records
  • Elektra Records
[7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Wrecking Ball</i> (Emmylou Harris album) 1995 studio album by Emmylou Harris

Wrecking Ball is the eighteenth studio album by American country artist Emmylou Harris, released on September 26, 1995, through Elektra Records. Moving away from her traditional acoustic sound, Harris collaborated with producer Daniel Lanois and engineer Mark Howard. The album has been noted for its atmospheric feel, and featured guest performances by Steve Earle, Larry Mullen Jr., Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Lucinda Williams and Neil Young, who wrote the title song.

<i>Brand New Dance</i> 1990 studio album by Emmylou Harris

Brand New Dance is an album which Emmylou Harris released on October 16, 1990. Produced by Richard Bennett and Allan Reynolds, the album mixed a rather eclectic collection of covers, including Bruce Springsteen's "Tougher Than the Rest", and Dave Mallett's "Red, Red Rose". Though it sold reasonably well, it was Harris' first studio album in fifteen years to yield no top forty country singles, and marked the beginning of a commercial decline for the singer, which would ultimately lead her to redirect her music away from mainstream country, a few years later.

<i>Bluebird</i> (Emmylou Harris album) 1989 studio album by Emmylou Harris

Bluebird is the fifteenth studio album by American country artist Emmylou Harris, released on January 10, 1989, by Warner Records. Featuring mostly interpretations of work by artists such as the McGarrigle Sisters, Tom Rush, and Rodney Crowell, it included her most recent top-ten country-charting single, "Heartbreak Hill". The album enjoyed renewed interest in 2004 when "Heaven Only Knows" was used in the first episode of the fifth season of The Sopranos.

<i>Trio II</i> 1999 studio album by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt

Trio II is the second collaborative studio album by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. It was released on February 9, 1999, by Asylum Records.

<i>Blue Kentucky Girl</i> (Emmylou Harris album) 1979 studio album by Emmylou Harris

Blue Kentucky Girl is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Emmylou Harris, released in 1979. The album features Harris delving into more traditional country than the country-rock sound of her previous releases. Songs include work by Willie Nelson and Gram Parsons. Rodney Crowell's "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" featured harmonies by Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, and came out of the women's ill-fated 1978 recording sessions, where they first attempted to record a "trio" album.

<i>Thirteen</i> (Emmylou Harris album) 1986 studio album by Emmylou Harris

Thirteen is an album by the American musician Emmylou Harris, released in 1986. The title came from its status as her thirteenth studio album.

<i>The Ballad of Sally Rose</i> 1985 studio album by Emmylou Harris

The Ballad of Sally Rose is the eleventh studio album by American singer Emmylou Harris released in February 1985. It marked a significant departure for Harris for two reasons. First, all the songs were written by her and her then-husband Paul Kennerley, while her previous albums had consisted mostly of others' material. Secondly, it is a concept album, loosely based on Harris' relationship with Gram Parsons. The album tells the story of a character named Sally Rose, a singer whose lover and mentor, a hard-living, hard-drinking musician, is killed while on the road. Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Gail Davies sing harmony on several of the songs. Many of the songs flow into one another to create a continuous momentum.

<i>Cimarron</i> (album) 1981 studio album by Emmylou Harris

Cimarron is the ninth studio album by Emmylou Harris that, like its predecessor, Evangeline, was composed mostly of outtakes from other recording sessions that had not fit into any of Harris' other albums. As a result, critics at the time complained that the album was "choppy" and lacked a unifying sound. Nonetheless, the album did well on the U.S. country charts, and featured three top-ten country singles: "Born to Run", "If I Needed You", and "Tennessee Rose." It was nominated for a Grammy in 1982 for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. In 2000, Eminent Records issued Cimarron for the first time on CD, with new liner notes and a bonus track, "Colors of Your Heart."

<i>Red Dirt Girl</i> 2000 studio album by Emmylou Harris

Red Dirt Girl is the nineteenth studio album by American country artist Emmylou Harris, released on September 12, 2000 by Nonesuch Records. The album was a significant departure for Harris, as eleven of the twelve tracks were written or co-written by her. At the time, she was best known for covering other songwriters' work. Prior to this album, only two of Harris' LPs had more than two of her own compositions. Her next album, Stumble into Grace, was also written by Harris. The album contains "Bang the Drum Slowly", a song Guy Clark helped Harris write as an elegy for her father. The album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard country album charts and won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2001.

<i>Stumble into Grace</i> 2003 studio album by Emmylou Harris

Stumble into Grace is the twentieth studio album by American singer/songwriter Emmylou Harris, released on September 23, 2003 by Nonesuch Records. It peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard country albums chart. Like its immediate predecessor, Red Dirt Girl, the album contained a significant number of Harris' own compositions.

<i>Neil Young: Heart of Gold</i> 2006 American film

Neil Young: Heart of Gold is a 2006 American documentary/concert film by Jonathan Demme, featuring the Canadian/American singer and songwriter Neil Young. It documents Young's premiere of his songs from his album Prairie Wind at Ryman Auditorium.

<i>Prisoner in Disguise</i> 1975 studio album by Linda Ronstadt

Prisoner In Disguise (1975) is Linda Ronstadt's sixth solo LP release and her second for the label Asylum Records. It followed Ronstadt's multi-platinum breakthrough album, Heart Like a Wheel, which became her first number one album on the US Billboard 200 album chart in early 1975.

<i>Get Closer</i> (Linda Ronstadt album) Album by Linda Ronstadt

Get Closer is the eleventh studio album by singer Linda Ronstadt, released in 1982.

<i>Flyer</i> (album) 1994 studio album by Nanci Griffith

Flyer was the eleventh studio album released by singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith. Released in 1994, it contained 15 tracks, mostly of original material. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards. The album had contributions from Peter Buck, Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris, Larry Mullen Jr., Adam Clayton, Adam Duritz, the Chieftains and the Indigo Girls.

<i>Real Live Woman</i> 2000 album by Trisha Yearwood

Real Live Woman is the eighth studio album by American country music singer Trisha Yearwood, released on March 28, 2000.

<i>Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions</i> 1999 studio album by Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris

Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions is a 1999 duet album by American singer, songwriter, and producer Linda Ronstadt and singer, songwriter, and guitarist Emmylou Harris, who had previously collaborated on two albums with Dolly Parton.

<i>Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems</i> 2007 box set by Emmylou Harris

Songbird: Rare Tracks & Forgotten Gems is a 2007 box set of songs personally selected by Emmylou Harris: "I've selected not greatest hits, but personal favorites: that, with a few exceptions-have never appeared on any other compilations, but were important gems in the string of pearls that each album strives to become. Also included are special collaborations, unreleased live and demo tracks, as well as contributions to tribute projects, which I may now gather into this fold.”

<i>All I Intended to Be</i> 2008 studio album by Emmylou Harris

All I Intended to Be is the 25th studio album from Emmylou Harris and her third release on Nonesuch Records. It was released in the United States on June 10, 2008. The album debuted at number 22 on the Billboard 200, and number four on Top Country Albums, which makes the album Harris’ highest charting solo record on the Billboard 200 since Evangeline was released in 1981. As of 2014 it has sold 153,973 copies in United States according to Nielsen SoundScan.

<i>Blame It All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences</i> 2013 box set by Garth Brooks

Blame it All on My Roots: Five Decades of Influences is the fourth compilation box set by American country music artist Garth Brooks, released by Pearl Records on November 28, 2013.

<i>Rich Man</i> (album) 2016 studio album by Doyle Bramhall II

Rich Man is the fourth solo studio album by guitarist Doyle Bramhall II, his first since 2001 and his first since the breakup of his backing band Smokestack It was released worldwide on September 30, 2016 on Concord Records. Bramhall wrote many of the album's songs as a tribute to his late father who died in 2011.

References

  1. "Emmylou Harris - Cowgirl's Prayer Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic . Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-27. Retrieved 2011-05-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2011-05-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "ALBUM REVIEW". Los Angeles Times. 17 October 1993. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  5. "EMMYLOU HARRIS". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  6. "Emmylou Harris: Cowgirl's Prayer : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone . 9 June 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-06-09. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  7. Harris, Emmylou (September 28, 1993). "Cowgirl's Prayer (Liner Notes)". Asylum Records/Elektra Records. 9-61541-2 and 61541-2 (CD); 61541-4 (Cassette).