Pieces Of The Sky

Sound DNA

• Country
• Americana & Roots

• warm
• wistful
• southern

About

By the time Emmylou Harris released her major-label debut in 1975, the silver-voiced soprano was already a veteran of both the Greenwich Village folk scene and the Laurel Canyon country-rock cadre. Polished and confident, <i>Pieces of the Sky</i> showcases that experience—along with Harris’ well-earned range. While men in Nashville were getting praised for challenging the Music Row establishment, Harris was making personal, heartfelt, idiosyncratic music that was both decidedly country and deeply new—all the while receiving a fraction of the outsider cred. Many of the throughlines of Harris’ career are established on <i>Pieces of the Sky</i>. The first track, “Bluebird Wine,” is a rollicking number by Rodney Crowell, who would become a linchpin of Harris’ Hot Band and her lifelong collaborator. It was recorded by Brian Ahern in the mobile studio that he’d created called the Enactron Truck, where Harris would record many of her best-known albums (the pair later married). Elsewhere on <i>Pieces of the Sky</i>, Harris covers Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors” and duets with Linda Ronstadt on “Queen of the Silver Dollar”—two more artists who would become central to Harris’ work in the years ahead. Meanwhile, Harris’ singular skill as a collaborative vocalist gets spotlighted on <i>Pieces of the Sky</i>, which finds her singing in rich harmony alongside Herb Pedersen on the Louvin Brothers’ “If I Could Only Win Your Love,” and with the Eagles’ Bernie Leadon on Merle Haggard’s “The Bottle Let Me Down”—two tracks that prove her country bona fides, both via Harris’ song choices, and her two-step-ready arrangements. The most enduring track on <i>Pieces of the Sky</i>, though, might be the only one that Harris co-wrote: “Boulder to Birmingham,” her tribute to her then-recently deceased musical muse and partner Gram Parsons. The song, for all its built-in tragedy and pathos, has a hymnlike quality that begs a sing-along. It wasn’t released as a single, but remains one of the singer’s most beloved signatures, an intensely felt lament sure to resonate with anyone who has experienced loss.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits