Steve Favorite #15: Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris

As I promised too long ago, I'm going to list some of my favorite albums of all time. So, deep breath, and here we go...

First, a little background. I was living happily in Pennsylvania as a kid. I loved the snow, I was truly naive about racism and skin color, and the girl next door let me kiss her. Life was good. Then when I was 12, my dad got a job in Alabama. The Klan marched on my first day of school. My "yankee accent" was openly mocked, and there were 8th grade boys in my school dipping Skoal. And their parents knew and were fine with it! I was on a different planet...

I came to Alabama kicking and screaming, determined not to assimilate. I listened to U2, the Cure, Pink Floyd, and anything else that was considered a bit "out there" by my peers in Bama. Part of that rebellion was hating country music, in any form, shape, or fashion. Steve's random fact of the day: I went to school with the son of the guy that co-wrote "Ring of Fire" and worked with Hank Williams, Jr. Hank had moved his HQ to our town and everyone thought he was the shiznit, though we didn't say it that way at the time.

Ten years after moving to Alabama, my wife and I moved to Texas. Different state, same feelings about country music. Being a U2 fan, I was a fan of Daniel Lanois' sound, so my curiosity was aroused when I read that he was producing an album by Emmylou Harris. After Wrecking Ball came out in 1995, I kept seeing rave after rave about how great it was. Of course I still didn't give it the time of day.

Fast forward a couple of years: I'm DJing at KTCU, and I see Wrecking Ball on the shelf. I decided to give it a listen and I was blown away. It's got a big, atmospheric sound. I mean, listen to the drums on "Goodbye" and it sounds like the room is just immense -- all these echoes just keep rolling through to the next beat and it's beautiful. The bigness causes all the sounds to meld together wonderfully. It's not like a lot of modern recordings where it's like "Yeah, there's the bass, and the guitar is stacked on top of that." This is like we put the ingredients together and they really complement each other and are blended.

Speaking of drums, that's U2's Larry Mullen Jr. playing on 9 of the 12 tracks, and he's joined by folks like Steve Earle, Neil Young and Lucinda Williams. Not only are the musicians amazing, but the songs are by people like Steve Earle, Neil Young, Julie Miller, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix.

I probably shouldn't have to tell you this, but I fell headlong in love with this album. The bigness of the sound, Emmylou's weathered but beautiful voice -- especially that part of her range where her voice cracks just a bit and then transitions into a thin, airy falsetto that just sounds so vulnerable. And then these big echoey guitars ringing... It's just an amazing atmosphere...

While country purists would probably say this isn't really a country album, it opened me up to listening to more country-oriented artists. I'm not hardcore or anything, but I can enjoy the occasional foray. Interestingly, I've bought other Emmylou albums, and nothing's really spoken to me like Wrecking Ball. An amazing album...

Favorite tracks: Goodbye, Wrecking Ball, Deeper Well, Waltz Across Texas Tonight
Repeated listens: Most definitely. A million little details to hear... I admit that I'm not always in the mood for this, but sometimes it just feels perfect...