Blue Kentucky Girl [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Emmylou Harris | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 24, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Rhino
• ASIN: B00013MS9M
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,729 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #56 in Music > Indie Music > Country > Country Folk

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Emmylou Harris focuses more intently on her country ancestry with this 1979 record, tackling songs made famous by Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, and the Louvin Brothers. However, the most rewarding cuts are the lesser-known gems: Willie Nelson's rollicking "Sister's Coming Home" (with Tanya Tucker), Dallas Frazier's aching ballad "Beneath Still Waters" (which hit No. 1 for Harris), and Jean Ritchie's moving folk song "Sorrow in the Wind." Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt help out on "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues," while Lincoln Davis's accordion beefs up the Flatt & Scruggs classic "Rough and Rocky." This record, Harris's fifth for Reprise, signals the end of her classic country-rock period. She would unplug completely for 1980's superb Roses in the Snow before breaking up with producer-husband Brian Ahern and pointing herself in new directions. --Marc Greilsamer

Product Description

With its spare, acoustic-based instrumentation, this 1979 Grammy winner is one of Emmylou's most traditional efforts. Among its down-home offerings is the #1 country single "Beneath Still Waters." Includes new liner notes and two previously unreleased bonus tracks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EMMYLOU AT HER VERY BEST!!!!, January 19, 2005

By 

a viewer "a viewer" (antioch, tn United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Kentucky Girl (Audio CD)

Go with the majority of the reviewers on this one folks. This is country the way it was meant to be!! Emmylou's vocals shine pure and true especially on "Beneath Still Waters" and "Save the Last Dance For Me" two of her masterpiece cuts and both #1 hits for her at the time of their release. This CD is Emmylou at her very best and when I found out they had released this treasure on CD I nabbed it immediately because I'd just about worn out my vinyl LP! It still packs a wallop after all these years!!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Emmylou album, April 15, 2004

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blue Kentucky Girl (Audio CD)

Emmylou has recorded many brilliant albums throughout her career but the string of albums that she recorded between 1975 and 1980 are ultimately her most important legacy. Everybody has his or her favorite - this is mine, perhaps because traditional country is what I like best, and that's what this album is filled with.

The set opens with Sister's coming home, an up-tempo song written by Willie Nelson, on which Tanya Tucker joins Emmylou for an incredible duet. I love Willie's music, but Emmylou and Tanya's version of this song is far superior to Willie's original.

Next comes the superb ballad, Beneath still waters, a hitherto obscure George Jones song, which provided Emmylou with a country number one hit. Even better is Save the last dance for me, also a huge country hit for Emmylou. I've heard countless versions of this song including the original Drifters version as well as brilliant covers by Buck Owens and others, but this is the best I've ever heard.

Among the other great covers here are Rough and rocky (Flatt and Scruggs), Hickory wind (a Gram Parsons song that first appeared on the classic album Sweethearts of the rodeo by the Byrds), Sorrow in the wind (Jean Ritchie - the song is sometimes titled Sweet sorrow in the wind), They'll never take his love from me (Hank Williams) and Every time you leave (Louvin Brothers) - with Don Everly.

The title track, Blue Kentucky girl, was an early Loretta Lynn country hit that might have faded into obscurity but for Emmylou's revival of it.

The album (as originally released) closes with one of my favorite country songs, Even cowgirls get the blues. Written by Rodney Crowell and with friends Dolly and Linda joining in, this is brilliant, although more restrained than Lynn Anderson's rousing up-tempo version, which is equally brilliant. Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings later recorded the song on their Heroes duet album, and they also did a great job with it.

Two bonus tracks have been added to this re-mastered edition, including a cover of Cheatin'is, originally recorded by the talented but under-appreciated Barbara Fairchild.

As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best albums ever recorded by anybody in any genre of music.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still awesome after all these years., February 25, 2004

By 

J N Crump (Dallas, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blue Kentucky Girl (Audio CD)

This was the first Emmylou Harris album I ever bought. As many great albums as she has made, it's probably still my favorite. If you're unfamiliar with her work, this is probably the best intro to Emmylou you'll find. As with many Emmylou records, her talent for finding and interpreting songs is matchless. The song cycle here holds together as if the songs were written for one another. Backed by Ricky Skaggs, the Whites, Tanya Tucker, Don Everly, and many others, Emmy shines with her crystaline voice all the way through.

Probably at her vocal peak with this record, Emmylou shows rockers, bluegrass pickers and country wannabes all how to do it -- and that she was doing it better decades ago. If you're a fan of new country, O Brother, roots rock or Americana, pick up this disc and listen to a master at work. Emmylou truly set the standard and blazed the trail for all those to come who would blur the lines of genres in the name of creative individuality.