Out Of Kindness I Suppose

When replacing old rock albums with a representative disk of an artist, it is often a choice between some career retrospective package of greatest hits or an extant album with a coherent feel to it. In the case of Emmylou Harris, I decided on the latter course and acquired this disk Luxury Liner. Her third solo album, it boasts the Hot Band in an unbeatable lineup which includes the country guitar picking of Albert Lee, harmony vocals and guitar of Rodney Crowell, tasteful piano and pedal steel of Glen D Hardin and Hank DeVito respectively, bluegrass licks from Ricky Skaggs and a rhythm section of bassist Emory Gordy and John Ware on drums. But it is the element that these musos are providing the backing to which is the pearl here and that is Emmylou's voice, pure soaring and soulful and restoring dignity and credibility to country music. The songs featured are all strong too and still provide part of her live set to this day. The title song is a rip roaring country boogie, there is a tongue in cheek country swing version of Chuck Berry's C'est La Vie ( You Never Can Tell ), a slow burning Tulsa Queen and heartbreaking ballads like Making Believe and When I Stop Dreaming. But the absolute standout and clinching reason for my purchase is the definitive version of the Townes Van Zandt song Pancho and Lefty. A four minute spaghetti western with a memorable tune in a superb arrangement and crystalline vocals that touch the heart.