Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town

Sound DNA

• Folk
• Singer-Songwriter

• twangy
• wistful
• storytelling

About

Released in 1978, <i>Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town</i> was Emmylou Harris’ fourth widely released solo album—yet, in some ways, the singer was still trying to escape the long shadow of her early work with Gram Parsons and the Flying Burrito Brothers. <i>Quarter Moon</i> presented a nearly undeniable argument that the already prolific and quite successful singer deserved not just accolades, but that Harris also warranted the same reverence as the so-called outlaws with whom she shared stages and jukeboxes. <i>Quarter Moon</i> finds Harris deftly connecting disparate worlds of country that some fans might have perceived as far apart: She collaborates with Willie Nelson on “One Paper Kid”; draws on compositions by lesser-known country outsiders like Rodney Crowell and Jesse Winchester; and, most crucially, performs Dolly Parton’s “To Daddy.” In doing so, Harris made the case that Parton was just as subversive as her peers—a radical statement at the time, as was Harris’ decision to recruit Guy Clark’s wife, Susanna Clark (who co-wrote the opening track and painted the <i>Quarter Moon</i> cover). There’s no pop gloss to this album, yet nearly half of its 10 tracks became hits for Harris, including “To Daddy,” “Two More Bottles of Wine,” and “Easy From Now On.” Meanwhile, “I Ain’t Living Long Like This” and “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” paved the way for Waylon Jennings’ and The Oak Ridge Boys’ chart-topping covers, respectively. But it’s Harris’ flawless version of “Leaving” that endures, thanks to its light Cajun groove and evocative storytelling. And “Two More Bottles of Wine,” written by Delbert McClinton, persists as a jukebox staple in Harris’ soaring soprano. The marriage of those rich, rollicking party songs—bolstered by Harris’ stellar studio ensemble—with silvery ballads like “Easy From Now On” and “Defying Gravity” helped prove that Harris was an icon in her own right: A star around which her impressive roster of collaborators could orbit.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits