Songbird: Rare Tracks & Forgotten Gems | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Box set by | ||||
Released | September 18, 2007 | |||
Recorded | 1969–2006 | |||
Genre | Country, folk, rock | |||
Label | Rhino | |||
Emmylou Harris chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Paste Magazine | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Austin Chronicle | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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.” [4]
Discs one and two serve as a retrospective of Emmylou's solo career, including at least one song from each of Emmylou's previous studio and live albums (and two cuts from her time with Gram Parsons). Discs three and four consist of collaborations with other performers, tribute album tracks, and unreleased material. Overall, 13 of the 78 tracks were previously unreleased. The DVD collects 9 videos filmed between 1975 and 2005, plus a public service announcement for Animal Rescue.
The 5 disc set (4 CDs & 1 DVD) are packaged in a multifold cardboard sleeve bound to mimic a photographic album. A 200-page liner notes and biography booklet, liberally graced with photos from throughout Emmylou's career, is also bound to mimic a photographic album. Both faux miniature photographic albums are housed in a CD sized cardboard slipcase.
# | Title | Songwriter | Length | Producer | Guests | Source | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Falling In A Deep Hole" * | Bill Danoff, Taffy Danoff | 2:38 | unissued | ???? | |||
2 | "1917" | David Olney | 5:22 | Glyn Johns | Linda Ronstadt | Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions | 1999 | |
3 | "Palms of Victory" * | Traditional (John B. Matthias) | 3:07 | Brian Ahern | Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt | Trio sessions outtake | 1978 | |
4 | "Softly And Tenderly" * | Traditional | 5:29 | George Massenburg | Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt | Trio II sessions outtake | ???? | |
5 | "My Dear Companion" | Jean Ritchie | 2:56 | George Massenburg | Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt | Trio | 1987 | |
6 | "Mary Danced With Soldiers" | Paul Kennerley | 3:06 | Randy Scruggs, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band | Nitty Gritty Dirt Band | Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two | 1989 | |
7 | "I Don't Love You Much Do I" | Guy Clark, Richard Leigh | 2:37 | Guy Clark, Miles Wilkinson | Guy Clark | Boats to Build | 1992 | |
8 | "All I Left Behind" * | Emmylou Harris, Kate McGarrigle, Anna McGarrigle | 3:17 | Kate McGarrigle, Anna McGarrigle, Michele Pepin | unissued demo | ???? | ||
9 | "I Remember You" | Steve Earle | 2:51 | Twangtrust | Steve Earle | Jerusalem | 2002 | |
10 | "Golden Ring" | Bobby Braddock, Rafe Van Hoy | 3:59 | Emmylou Harris, Michele Pepin | Linda Ronstadt, Anna McGarrigle, Kate McGarrigle | Tammy Wynette Remembered | 1998 | |
11 | "Sonny" | Ron Hynes | 4:18 | Donal Lunny | Dolores Keane, Mary Black | Bringing It All Back Home | 1991 | |
12 | "In The Garden" * | Traditional | 2:49 | Daniel Lanois | All the Pretty Horses project, unissued | 1996 | ||
13 | "Love Still Remains" | Kate Wolf | 4:35 | Nina Gerber | Treasures Left Behind: Remembering Kate Wolf | 1998 | ||
14 | "Snake Song" | Townes Van Zandt | 2:32 | Freddy Fletcher, Eric Paul | Poet: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt | 2001 | ||
15 | "Hobo's Lullaby" | Goebel Reeves | 2:43 | Emmylou Harris | Folkways: A Vision Shared | 1988 | ||
16 | "Wondering" | Joe Werner | 3:03 | Gail Davies | Caught in the Webb: A Tribute to the Legendary Webb Pierce | 2002 | ||
17 | "Immigrant Eyes" * | Guy Clark, Roger Murrah | 3:40 | Paul Kennerley | unissued birthday present | 2001 | ||
18 | "Juanita" | Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons | 2:40 | Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris | Sheryl Crow | Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons | 1999 | |
19 | "She" | Chris Ethridge, Gram Parsons | 4:49 | Stephen Street | The Pretenders | Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons | 1999 | |
20 | "Sin City" | Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons | 4:00 | Emmylou Harris, Paul Kremen | Beck | Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons | 1999 | |
21 | "Wheels" | Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons | 3:27 | John Starling, Bill Wolf, The Seldom Scene | The Seldom Scene | 15th Anniversary Celebration, Live at the Kennedy Center | 1988 |
# | Title | Songwriter | Length | Producer | Guests | Source | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Beyond The Blue" | Beth Nielsen Chapman Gary Nicholson | 4:33 | Buddy Miller, Steve Fishell | Patty Griffin | Where the Heart Is: Original Soundtrack | 2000 | |
2 | "First In Line" * | Paul Kennerley | 3:34 | John Starling | Spring Training sessions | 1990 | ||
3 | "Highway Of Heartache" * | Carl Jackson | 3:04 | Carl Jackson | Carl Jackson | Spring Training sessions | 1990 | |
4 | "Alone And Forsaken" | Hank Williams Sr | 3:31 | Mark Knopfler | Mark Knopfler & His Band | Hank Williams: Timeless | 2001 | |
5 | "Child Of Mine" | Carole King, Gerry Goffin | 3:27 | Emmylou Harris | Til Their Eyes Shine ... The Lullaby Album | 1992 | ||
6 | "Heaven Ain't Ready For You Yet" | Paul Kennerley | 3:56 | Glyn Johns | The Legend of Jesse James | 1980 | ||
7 | "Wish We Were Back In Missouri" | Guy Humphreys, Paul Kennerley | 4:03 | Glyn Johns | The Legend of Jesse James | 1980 | ||
8 | "Mama's Hungry Eyes" | Merle Haggard | 3:41 | Brian Ahern | Mama's Hungry Eyes: A Tribute to Merle Haggard | 1994 | ||
9 | "Here We Are" | Rodney Crowell | 2:53 | Billy Sherrill | George Jones | My Very Special Guests | 1979 | |
10 | "Waltz Across Texas Tonight" * | Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris | 3:43 | Allen Reynolds, Richard Bennett | Cowgirl's Prayer sessions | 1993 | ||
11 | "Snowin' On Raton" * | Townes Van Zandt | 3:42 | Allen Reynolds, Richard Bennett | Brand New Dance sessions | 1990 | ||
12 | "Gone" * | Liz Meyer | 3:37 | Allen Reynolds, Richard Bennett | Cowgirl's Prayer sessions | 1993 | ||
13 | "Don't Let Our Love Die" * | Michael Dowling, Alan O'Bryant | 3:18 | Carl Jackson | Carl Jackson | Spring Training sessions | ||
14 | "The Pearl" | Emmylou Harris | 5:19 | Julia Olin | Concerts for a Land Mine Free World | 2000 | Live | |
15 | "Wildwood Flower" | Traditional | 3:47 | Randy Scruggs | Randy Scruggs, Iris DeMent | Crown of Jewels | 1998 | |
16 | "Love And Happiness" | Emmylou Harris, Kimmie Rhodes | 4:21 | Mark Knopfler, Chuck Ainlay | Mark Knopfler | All the Roadrunning | 2006 | |
17 | "When We're Gone, Long Gone" | Kieran Kane, Jamie O'Hara | 4:01 | George Massenburg | Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton | Trio II | 1998 |
Chart (2007) | Peak position |
---|---|
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 49 |
Region | Date | Format | Label | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
North America | September 18, 2007 | CD | Warner Bros. Records | [24] |
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.
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. Released at a time when older artists 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.
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.
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.
Ethan Thomas Robert Johns is an English record producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Johns has worked with artists including Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Paul McCartney, Ray LaMontagne, Tom Jones, Kaiser Chiefs, Rufus Wainwright, The Boxer Rebellion, Crowded House, Turin Brakes, Lauren Hoffman, The Vaccines, Laura Marling, The Staves, and Crosby, Stills and Nash. In 2012, he won the Brit Award for Best British Producer.
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.
Evangeline is the eighth studio album by Emmylou Harris that was composed mostly of leftover material from past recording sessions and which did not fit into any of her other albums. Songs included a remake of "Mister Sandman", "Evangeline", which she had previously performed with The Band, Rodney Crowell's "Ashes By Now", and a cover of John Fogerty's "Bad Moon Rising". Though it received mixed reviews upon its release, the album was yet another commercial success for Harris. It was certified Gold in less than a year after its release. A single release of "Mister Sandman" did well on the charts, though neither Ronstadt's nor Parton's record companies would allow their artists' vocals to be used on the single, so Harris rerecorded the song, singing all three parts for the single release. Rodney Crowell's "I Don't Have to Crawl" was released as the album's second single.
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.
White Shoes is the tenth studio album by Emmylou Harris, released in 1983. The album includes a rockish version of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", a country remake of the Donna Summer hit "On the Radio", and a version of Sandy Denny's "Like an Old Fashioned Waltz". Both "In My Dreams" and "Pledging My Love" hit the #9 position on the Billboard country music singles chart in 1984.
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."
Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town is the fifth studio album by American country music artist Emmylou Harris, released in 1978. The album reached number 3 on the Billboard charts, with three charting singles: "To Daddy" at #3, "Two More Bottles of Wine" at #1, and "Easy From Now On" at #12. Also featured are "One Paper Kid", a duet with Willie Nelson, "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight", which the Oak Ridge Boys would reach #1 with in 1980 and "I Ain't Living Long Like This", which Waylon Jennings would reach #1 with in 1980 as well. The painting used for the album cover is by Susanna Clark.
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.
Light of the Stable is the first Christmas album by Emmylou Harris. It was originally released in 1979 by Warner Bros. Records but has since gone through several intervening releases. The 1992 Warner release was a remastered version of the original with a different album cover. The latest edition was released in 2004 by Rhino Records. It contains three newly recorded tracks in addition to remastered versions of the ten original tracks. Its cover came from the record sleeve of the original 45-rpm single version of "Light of the Stable" that was released in 1975. The title song featured harmony vocals from Neil Young, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt.
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.
Fearless is the fourth studio album by Canadian country music singer Terri Clark. It was released in September 2000 via Mercury Nashville. The album produced three singles in "A Little Gasoline", "No Fear" and "Getting There", which respectively reached No. 13, 27, and 41 on the Billboard country charts. A fourth single, "Empty", was only released in Canada. Clark produced the album with Steuart Smith, with assistance from Keith Stegall on "No Fear" and "A Little Gasoline".
The Rainy Season is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, released in 1993. The album peaked at number 63 on the Billboard 200 chart and at number 24 on the UK charts.
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.
On The Front Line is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Dan Seals. It reached #12 on the Top Country Albums chart. "You Still Move Me", "I Will Be There", and "Three Time Loser" were all number one singles.
My Father's Son is the eleventh studio album by American country music artist Ricky Skaggs. It was released on September 10, 1991, via Epic Records. The albums includes the singles "Life's Too Long ", "Same Ol' Love" and "From the Word Love".
Many a Mile is the sixteenth studio album by Canadian country rock band Blue Rodeo, released on December 3, 2021.