Last Friday, Rich who pens the great KamerTunesBlog, posted about John Mellencamp’s 1983 album Uh-huh, and we ended up chatting about the heartland-turned-roots artist from Seymour, Ind. Sources: Wikipedia Songfacts YouTube Author christiansmusicmusings Posted on NovemNovemCategories The Wednesday Feature Tags Alternative Rock, Americana, Anne Murray, Bill Danoff, Boulder to Birmingham, Brian Ahern, Carlene Carter, Country, Emmylou Harris, Folk, GP, Gram Parsons, Grievous Angel, Hard Bargain, John Denver, John Mellencamp, Mark Knopfler, Pieces of the Sky, Real Live Roadrunning, Scars & Stories, Starland Vocal Band, Taffy Nivert, Take Me Home Country Roads, The Fray, The Hollies, The Road, Write On 11 Comments on Song Musings Musings of the Past She scolded me a little bit and put me in my place because I was getting a little rock star and giving Emmylou advice, which is something you don’t do. “We met and sat down with Emmylou,” singer Isaac Slade recalled to Jam! Music. They persuaded Harris to appear on their version but nearly fell out with the Nashville legend when working on the song with her. The Hollies recorded this for their 1976 album Write On.Ī cover by the Alternative Rock band The Fray appears as a bonus track on the iTunes deluxe version of their third album Scars & Stories. They married in 1977 the same month Harris’ third Ahern-produced album, Luxury Liner, was released. There are no background vocals and the various instruments – including acoustic and pedal steel guitar – are carefully mixed to accentuate the singing.Īhern stayed on as Harris’ producer and the two formed a romantic relationship. This song is a great example of his production strategy, which was to focus on the voice. The line in this song “I was in the wilderness and the canyon was on fire,” is often interpreted to be about this burning, but it was actually a reference to 1974 wildfires in the Coldwater Canyon section of Los Angeles, which is where Harris recorded the album.īrian Ahern, who had previously worked with Anne Murray, produced the Pieces of the Sky album. Harris had a regular gig there in the early ’70s.Īfter Gram Parsons died, two of his friends stole his body and set it on fire in the Mohave desert, which they claimed was Parsons’ directive. … Danoff and his wife Taffy Nivert were well known in the DC music scene they had co-written the John Denver hits “Take Me Home Country Roads” and “Friends With You.” The year after Harris released Pieces of the Sky, Danoff had a huge hit with his group the Starland Vocal Band in “Afternoon Delight,” which is titled after the appetizer menu at a DC restaurant/bar called Clyde’s Of Georgetown. She wrote the lyrics to the song, and Bill Danoff composed the music. Harris wrote about half of the songs on her 1969 debut album, but this was the only one she had a hand in writing for her second album, Pieces of the Sky. The song is specifically about Parsons, but the song became a source of comfort for many people who could relate to the sentiment of losing someone close. If I thought I could see, I could see your face I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham The song has become famous for its heart-rending chorus: Harris did not revisit his death in such an outspoken manner until The Road, a song off her 26th studio album Hard Bargain, which came out in April 2011.įollowing are additional insights from Songfacts:Įmmylou Harris cowrote this song with Bill Danoff after the death of Gram Parsons. Listening to the words of the song it’s hard to escape the notion Harris’ feelings for Parsons likely went beyond admiration of the mentorship he offered.
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