Over 250,000 New Yorkers are expected to take advantage of the Lincoln Center Out Of Door’s over its three weeks this summer. By my simple mathematics, that means one of every 32 of us is gonna see it, and it means that traditionalists such as myself, who consider what Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell do to be country music, are in for a hard time of it. Even while New York’s Senior Senator Chuck Schumer outed himself as a Harris fan, does that mean he knows from Americana?
To add fuel to the fire of Americana as a real genre, Americanafest had the Mayor Of Nashville Karl Dean announcing its own Americanafest at the home of country from September 17th – 21st, a case of if you can’t beat em join em. But really, if Americana is a true genre of popular music, does it include George Jones? If so, what is country? Roger Miller? Gram Parsons? The Byrds? The Flying Burritos Brothers? Or is it a folder and the genre’s are subfolders?
Or maybe it makes sense for opening act Robert Ellis, who has cut his hair and moved to New York City, who mixes folk with country on his breakthrough album The Lights From The Chemical Plant. What Ellis has is an intense seriousness which can work against him but was livened up on stage. Ellis is from Houston and just under his tone is his twang, he sounds like he could be singing Bro Country songs on CMT, but he isn’t. Instead we get lovely but slow “Only Lies” and “Steady As the Rising Sun”, the latter about as beautiful a country ballad as you will ever hear. Ellis is a funny guy, “This next one is about infidelity,” he grins. “Got any fans?” . The highlight was Philip Poyner favorite “Houston” and a duet with Emmylou Harris on “Crying Time”. Incidentally you can stream both acts on Paste Magazine here.
Emmylou is a glorious ambassador for Nashville, and after Loretta Lynn countries greatest female singer. She is also a favored daughter for New York City where she started her career waiting tables, sang with Gram Parsons at Max’s Kansas City and whispers to us that she really thinks New York is the greatest city of them all. Rodney sent three of his four daughters to High School here, so on a glorious evening in New York City, what could be better than a free show by should be New Yorkers?
Well…
I had tickets to see Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell at Beacon Theater last year and blew it off to catch a hip hop show. Why? Because I knew what I’d be getting and I knew what I would be getting and I knew what i’d be getting and that is exactly what I got last night. Extremely lovely, but a touch lugubrious country-folk. Pushing last years Grammy winning (but I didn’t vote…) Old Yellow Moon, the two have been friends for 40 years and they came together to produce a piece of exquisite music and they played it with passion and conviction. And from time to time more than that, Crowell’s lead on Roger Miller’s “Invitation To The blues” is heartbreaking and swinging, any night you get to hear Emmylou singing “Red Dirt Girl” is going to be one of the best nights of the year by definition, and Crowell’s 1979 “Leaving Louisiana By Daylight” never gets old, Emmylou took the lead and sang it so well she now owns it and the instrumental break is the best musical moment of the evening, the steel guitar was brilliant Nashville cats time.
Emmylou ‘s pristine voice works as well in the back as the foreground, which is why everybody wants to work with her. In 2004 she sang back up on Bright Eye’s album of the decade. which takes her from Gram Parsons to Conor Oberst. Last night her duet with Crowell on “Love Hurts” was a thing of beauty and the very next song “Luxury Liner” a swinging banging take, Emmylou at 67 years old was just in great shape. And Crowell has always showed more than enough heart to cover Parsons -even if he might wanna skip “The Return Of The Grievous Angel” next tour. Together they sound fine but no more than that, I would actually like to hear her sing with a couple of other folks before Rodney… and she probably will.
It is what I expected almost exactly, so was slow as molasses Townes Van Zandt covers, neither of which works, so were slower slower deeply felt songs like “Dreamin’ My Dream” which bored me to tears. Not enough to derail the set but enough for me to make you aware of. By the way Crowell’s new album Tarpaper Sky is absolutely terrific and not represented and there is zero excuse for not playing “Fever on the Bayou”.
But now get this, remember how I mentioned the nonstop chattering at Conor’s Summerstage gig? It didn’t happen here. The audience were very quiet, very attentive, so perhaps my caveats belong to me. Wow, is that “The Rock Of My Soul”?
So yeah, I don’t buy the entire Americana concept, good taste can be a little on the boring side, and that is all my complaints in one place.
Grade: B+
