Wrecking Ball (Emmylou Harris album)

Last updated

Wrecking Ball
HarrisWrecking.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 26, 1995
Recorded1995
Studio
  • Kingsway (New Orleans)
  • Woodland (Nashville)
  • Natoma (San Francisco)
Genre Country rock, post-rock , alternative country, folk
Length53:05
Label
Producer Daniel Lanois
Emmylou Harris chronology
Cowgirl's Prayer
(1993)
Wrecking Ball
(1995)
Spyboy
(1998)
Singles from Wrecking Ball
  1. "Where Will I Be"
    Released: September 11, 1995
  2. "Wrecking Ball"
    Released: January 1996
  3. "Goodbye"
    Released: 1996 (radio promo only)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
Chicago Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [2]
Christgau's Consumer Guide B [3]
Entertainment Weekly A− [4]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
The Irish Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [6]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]
Pitchfork 8.8/10 [8]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [9]
Uncut 9/10 [10]

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. [11] 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.

Contents

Background

Though her choice of songs had always been eclectic, the album was regarded as a departure. Harris, at the age of 48, had become something of an elder stateswoman in country music. The album received nearly universal acclaim, making many critics' year-end "best of" lists, and pointed Harris' career in a somewhat different direction where she would incorporate a harder edge. As a career-redefining album, Wrecking Ball was compared to Marianne Faithfull's 1979 Broken English album and Johnny Cash's American Recordings . Wrecking Ball won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Recording.

Content

Harris covered Neil Young's song "Wrecking Ball", and the track includes harmonies by Young. [12] Although the song was released by Harris as a 2-track CD single with Lucinda Williams' "Sweet Old World", one reviewer did not consider the title track the high point on the album. [13]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Where Will I Be" (with Daniel Lanois)Daniel Lanois4:15
2."Goodbye" Steve Earle 4:53
3."All My Tears" Julie Miller 3:42
4."Wrecking Ball" Neil Young 4:49
5."Goin' Back to Harlan" Anna McGarrigle 4:51
6."Deeper Well" David Olney, Lanois4:19
7."Every Grain of Sand" Bob Dylan 3:56
8."Sweet Old World" Lucinda Williams 5:06
9."May This Be Love" (with Daniel Lanois) Jimi Hendrix 4:45
10."Orphan Girl" Gillian Welch 3:15
11."Blackhawk"Daniel Lanois4:28
12."Waltz Across Texas Tonight" Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris4:46
Total length:53:05

Personnel

Additional personnel

Charts

Chart performance for Wrecking Ball
Chart (1995)Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [14] 58
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [15] 29
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [16] 30
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [17] 27
UK Albums (OCC) [18] 46
UK Country Albums (OCC) [19] 1
US Billboard 200 [20] 94

Release history

Release history and formats for Wrecking Ball
RegionDateFormatLabelRef.
North AmericaSeptember 26, 1995
  • CD
  • cassette
  • Asylum Records
  • Elektra Records
[21]

Related Research Articles

<i>Cmon, Cmon</i> (album) 2002 studio album by Sheryl Crow

C'mon, C'mon is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, released on April 8, 2002, in the United Kingdom and April 16, 2002 in the United States. Lead single "Soak Up the Sun" peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming one of her biggest hits since "All I Wanna Do". The album was arguably her most pop-influenced to date, a big departure from the folk and rock sound on her previous release, The Globe Sessions.

<i>The Fire Inside</i> Album by Bob Seger

The Fire Inside is the fourteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Seger. The album was released in mid 1991 on the record label, Capitol. It was Seger's first album of entirely new music since Like a Rock in 1986. Though credited to "The Silver Bullet Band", much of the album used guest and session musicians, with limited contributions from Silver Bullet Band members. Among the guest artists on the album are Joe Walsh, Bruce Hornsby, Roy Bittan, Steve Lukather, Don Was, Waddy Wachtel, Rick Vito, Mike Campbell, Patty Smyth, Lisa Germano, and Kenny Aronoff.

<i>Trio</i> (1987 album) 1987 studio album by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris

Trio is a collaborative album by American singers Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris. It was released on March 2, 1987, by Warner Bros. Records. The album has platinum certification in the U.S. for sales of one million copies, and has total worldwide sales of approximately four million. A second collaborative album, Trio II, was released in 1999.

<i>Cowgirls Prayer</i> 1993 studio album by Emmylou Harris

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.

<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>Homegrown</i> (Neil Young album) 2020 studio album by Neil Young

Homegrown is the 40th studio album by Canadian-American Neil Young. It was released on June 19, 2020, by Reprise Records. The album consists of material recorded between June 1974 and January 1975. The album was recorded after the release of On the Beach and before the sessions for Zuma. Like those two albums, much of the material was inspired by Young's relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress, which was deteriorating in 1974. The album was compiled and prepared for release in 1975. Instead, Tonight's the Night was released in its place, and Homegrown remained unreleased for decades. It was finally set for release as part of Record Store Day 2020, amid Neil Young's ongoing Archives campaign. Its release was again delayed by Record Store Day's postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before finally seeing release on June 19.

<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>All the Roadrunning</i> 2006 studio album by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris

All the Roadrunning is a collaboration between British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler and American singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris, released on 24 April 2006 by Mercury Records and Universal Music internationally, and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album received favorable reviews, and reached the number one position on album charts in Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland. The album peaked at number eight in the United Kingdom, and number 17 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. The title track, which actually was released the year before as a new track on the compilation album Private Investigations, was released as a single and reached number 8 in the UK.

<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>Spyboy</i> (album) 1998 live album by Emmylou Harris

Spyboy is a 1998 live album by Emmylou Harris and her backing band, Spyboy which she formed for a tour to perform songs from her 1995 career-redefining album, Wrecking Ball. Taking a stripped-down approach, Harris is backed by a trio comprising country singer-songwriter Buddy Miller on guitar and New Orleans musicians Daryl Johnson on bass and Brady Blade on drums. Along with songs from Wrecking Ball, such as "Where Will I Be" and "Deeper Well", Harris performs other songs from earlier in her career, such as "Born to Run" from Cimarron, "Love Hurts", which she first performed with Gram Parsons, "I Ain't Living Long Like This" from Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town and her ode to Parsons, "Boulder to Birmingham", from her 1975 debut album, Pieces of the Sky.

<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>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>Old Yellow Moon</i> 2013 studio album by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell

Old Yellow Moon is a collaborative album by American country music singer-songerwriters Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, released on February 26, 2013 in the United States by Nonesuch Records. It is the twenty-seventh and fourteenth studio albums for both Harris and Crowell, respectively, as well as Harris's fifth album for Nonesuch Records. The duo followed up this collaboration with The Traveling Kind two years later.

"Wrecking Ball" is a 1989 song by Neil Young, included in the album Freedom. The song was covered by American singer Emmylou Harris.

<i>Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone</i> 2014 studio album by Lucinda Williams

Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone is the 11th studio album by American singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams. The double album was released on September 30, 2014. It is the first album on Williams' own Highway 20 Records label. The song "Compassion", from which the album title is derived, is based on a poem by her father, Miller Williams.

<i>Cass County</i> (album) 2015 studio album by Don Henley

Cass County is the fifth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Don Henley. The album was released on September 25, 2015, by Past Masters Holdings and Capitol Records. It was Don Henley's first new solo album in 15 years since 2000's Inside Job.

References

  1. Ankeny, Jason. "Wrecking Ball – Emmylou Harris". AllMusic . Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  2. Dretzka, Gary (November 2, 1995). "Emmylou Harris: Wrecking Ball (Elektra)". Chicago Tribune .
  3. Christgau, Robert (2000). "Emmylou Harris: Wrecking Ball". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN   0-312-24560-2 . Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  4. Nash, Alanna (September 29, 1995). "Wrecking Ball". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  5. Sweeting, Adam (September 29, 1995). "Emmylou Harris: Wrecking Ball (Grapevine)". The Guardian .
  6. Breen, Joe (April 11, 2014). "Emmylou Harris: Wrecking Ball". The Irish Times . Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  7. Cromelin, Richard (September 24, 1995). "Emmylou Harris 'Wrecking Ball' Elektra/Asylum". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved May 11, 2011.
  8. Hussey, Allison (April 17, 2022). "Emmylou Harris: Wrecking Ball Album Review". Pitchfork . Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  9. Richardson, Susan (November 16, 1995). "Emmylou Harris: Wrecking Ball". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on August 1, 2009. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
  10. Mueller, Andrew (April 24, 2014). "Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball". Uncut . Archived from the original on August 3, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  11. Hurst, Jack (November 7, 1995). "Harris' Saving Grace May Be Her Difference". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
  12. The Journal of Country Music 1996 Volume 18 - Page 11 "One can hear that same sort of ache, an almost primordial loneliness, running through the whole of Wrecking Ball, her Grammy-winning current album. Having drawn on the catalogs of Earle, Neil Young, Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, and ..."
  13. CD Review Volume 12, Issues 1-9 - Page 13 1995 "Wrecking Ball peaks not with the Neil Young-penned title cut (with its author singing harmony), but in the one-two punch of Lucinda Williams' "Sweet Old World" followed by Jimi Hendrix's "May This Be Love.".
  14. "Ultratop.be – Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  15. "Dutchcharts.nl – Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  16. "Norwegiancharts.com – Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  17. "Swedishcharts.com – Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  18. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  19. "Official Country Artists Albums Chart Top 20". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  20. "Emmylou Harris Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  21. Harris, Emmylou (September 26, 1995). "Wrecking Ball (Liner Notes)". Asylum Records/Elektra Records . 61854-2 (CD); 61854-2 (Cassette).