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Free Pieces Of The Sky Emmylou Harris Rar Programs

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Release Date:;Notes:Vinyl LP repressing. Profile: Best of Emmylou Harris is a compilation of hits by Emmylou Harris from her first four Reprise/Warner albums: Pieces of the Sky, Elite Hotel, Luxury Liner and Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town. The album rose as high as #9 on the Billboard country albums chart in 1978. Download sheet music for Emmylou Harris. Choose from Emmylou Harris sheet music for such popular songs as Feels Like Home, Together Again, and Boulder To Birmingham. Print instantly, or sync to our free PC, web and mobile apps. Emmylou Harris - Elite Hotel (1975) Released in December 1975, just a few months after Pieces Of The Sky, Emmylou Harris's Elite Hotel is already a first achievement in her career. Twelve songs, twelve little musical pearls. Emmylou Harris' major label debut, Pieces Of The Sky, was released in 1975. It included the song 'If I Could Only Win Your Love,' which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. The album was eventually certified gold.

Emmylou Harris (illustration by Andy Friedman)

3.27.17 12:05am

To legions of music fans, Emmylou Harris is a goddess. Revered as one of the greatest harmony singers and song interpreters of our age, this graceful artist claims a place in the high court of Americana royalty.

So, how did she get here? With talent, certainly. With instinct, when it comes to both her material and the company she keeps. And with the spirit of a warrior, unafraid to explore new avenues.

Like a lot of artist's stories, this one starts with a big break.

Emmylou Harris was born in Birmingham, Alabama, raised in North Carolina and Virginia, and got serious about music in college. It was 1971 when Chris Hillman caught her performing and recommended her to fellow Flying Burrito Brother Gram Parsons, who was then working on his first solo album.

They formed a legendary pair at the forefront of a brand new genre. They worked on two albums, GP and Grievous Angel, toured together, and made magic happen on songs like 'Love Hurts' and 'In My Hour of Darkness' (co-written by Parsons and Harris) from Grievous Angel. But by the end of 1973 he was gone, and Harris was left in the wake of a hurricane to carry forward with their vision.

For most of her career Harris has stood at the center of Nashville and everything it means to people, but she has never been defined by it. Her major label debut, Pieces of the Sky, came out in 1975 and introduced songs like her own 'Boulder to Birmingham' and a cover by her favorite singer Dolly Parton, 'Coat of Many Colors.'From that first solo step through her 40-plus year career, Harris has proved to be too eclectic to neatly classify.

Free Pieces Of The Sky Emmylou Harris Rar Programs Free

Her instincts led her to pull together great players and great songs, regardless of where they came from. That may have meant she'd never become a mainstream country superstar, but it left her work open to the appreciation of fans from the folk, rock, and bluegrass worlds.

Among those fans were the many artists who wanted to sing with her. In the Seventies, Linda Ronstadt, Guy Clark, Neil Young and Bob Dylan all called on her talents. She covered Lucinda Williams' 'Sweet Old World' with Neil Young in New Orleans and sang 'Evangeline' with The Band for 'The Last Waltz.' She added songs by this new family to her albums, including Parton, and her up-and-coming discovery Rodney Crowell.

The Eighties were no less a journey of discovery for Harris. She sang with Roy Orbison, covered Paul Simon and even Donna Summer (Curious? Here's 'On the Radio.') Harris wrote a country opera, The Ballad of Sally Rose. That may not have been a big hit, but it marked the first time she wrote more songs than she covered, which would be an eye-opening experience.

The Trio project with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt was the biggest commercial success of her career, in 1987. She took that success and put it back into the community, becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry and helping to resurrect the Ryman Auditorium, recording 1991's At The Ryman there (and returning in May 2017 to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the venue).

But Harris never stopped taking risks. Her landmark 1985 Wrecking Ball album with Daniel Lanois brought her the slavish appreciation of rock fans, who promptly bought up every old Grievous Angel LP they could find. She is the one singing with Willie Nelson on Teatro. She is also the one singing with Ryan Adams on Heartbreaker. (Adams describes the first time they sang together.)

It is worth pointing out that in her care, these collaborations became a community. Among other group projects, Harris put together the Concerts for a Landmine Free World series, with performance tickets and recordings benefiting veterans' efforts in helping innocent victims of war. She also co-produced the 1999 album Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, honoring her late friend and artistic partner, which included contributions from Beck, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Wilco and many others.

Free Pieces Of The Sky Emmylou Harris Rar Programs Youtube

The 2000s were an exciting time: Harris released Red Dirt Girl, which reached her fans in country, rock and folk, plus earned one of her many Grammy awards. (As of this writing, she has been awarded 13 Grammy awards, from 46 nominations. Forty-six.)

Then came the huge O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack and its documentary concert film, Down from the Mountain (featuring the ethereal 'Go to Sleep You Little Baby'). Her songwriting led the way through 2003's Stumble Into Grace, and her tour the following year was like a dream come true for alt-country fans, including Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin.

But why stop there? Harris worked with Conor Oberst on Bright Eyes vocals in 2005 ('Land Locked Blues' from I'm Wide Awake It's Morning), and followed that with an Elvis Costello tour that summer. Neil Young's Prairie Wind album and Heart of Gold concert film followed that. Her collaboration with Mark Knopfler, All the Roadrunning, was a hit on the charts and on the road in 2006.

Another genre-busting album, All I Intended to Be, brought Harris together with a new, bluegrass-based band, starring at MerleFest, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and then the Lilith Tour of 2010.

The most recent collaboration for Harris has been with her old friend Rodney Crowell (Nonesuch posted a joint interview with the two from 2013). They recorded two albums together and earned Americana Music Awards for both their efforts. And Crowell is just one of the many artists who went on to greater acclaim after sharing a spotlight with Harris—the long list includes Bill Payne, Herb Pedersen, Albert Lee, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill and Sam Bush.

We learned a lot about Harris when we asked her to be WFUV's first-ever Artist of the Year and performer at our annual Gala in 2008. She brought her personal magic to our world for an evening, and in return we got to introduce her to Dodgers announcer Vin Scully— it turns out she's an enormous baseball fan ('When I became a big baseball fan decades ago,' said Harris, 'I would turn down the sound of the television to listen to Vin Scully call the World Series on the radio for many years, because radio is the medium.')

In between tours, Harris founded an animal shelter in Nashville called Bonaparte's Retreat, and is still reaching for the goal of having a zero-kill city. The dogs are lucky to have her.

Harris was honored by her peers in a 2016 tribute show in Washington, D.C., The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris: An All-Star Concert, released last year as a live album and DVD. But Harris is hardly resting on her laurels; she's on the road constantly and in June 2017 joins John Mellencamp's Sad Clowns and Hillbillies tour

For keeping an open heart and mind, even when it meant an uncertain future; for keeping her eye on the prize of building a loving community of artists; for never wavering in her devotion to song—we honor Emmylou Harris as one of our FUV Essentials.

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Pieces of the Sky
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 1975
StudioEnactron Truck, Los Angeles, California; Track Recorders, Silver Spring, Maryland
GenreCountry
Length38:40 (1975 release)
43:17 (2004 reissue)
LabelReprise
ProducerBrian Ahern
Emmylou Harris chronology
Gliding Bird
(1969)
Pieces of the Sky
(1975)
Elite Hotel
(1975)
Singles from Pieces of the Sky
  1. 'If I Could Only Win Your Love'
    Released: June 1975
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Christgau's Record GuideC+[2]
The Guardian[3]

Pieces of the Sky is the second studio album by American country music artist Emmylou Harris, released in February 1975 through Reprise.

Although she had released the obscure folk-styled Gliding Bird five years earlier, Pieces of the Sky became the album that launched Harris's career and is widely considered to be her début. In those intervening years she forged a musical relationship with Gram Parsons that altered the musical direction of her career. The album includes Harris's first high-charting Billboard country hit, the #4 'If I Could Only Win Your Love,' and the relatively low-charting #73 'Too Far Gone' (originally a 1967 hit for Tammy Wynette). The overall song selection was varied and showed early on how eclectic Harris's musical tastes were. In addition to her own 'Boulder to Birmingham' (written for Gram Parsons, who had died the previous year), she included the Merle Haggard classic 'The Bottle Let Me Down,' The Beatles' 'For No One,' and Dolly Parton's 'Coat of Many Colors.' (Parton, in turn, covered 'Boulder to Birmingham' on her 1976 album All I Can Do (album).) On Shel Silverstein's 'Queen Of The Silver Dollar,' Harris's longtime friend and vocal collaborator, Linda Ronstadt, sings harmony.

Pieces of the Sky rose as far as the #7 spot on the Billboard country albums chart.

Pieces of the Sky was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing[edit]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1.'Bluebird Wine'Rodney Crowell3:18
2.'Too Far Gone'Billy Sherrill4:05
3.'If I Could Only Win Your Love'Charlie Louvin, Ira Louvin2:36
4.'Boulder to Birmingham'Emmylou Harris, Bill Danoff3:33
5.'Before Believing'Danny Flowers4:44
6.'The Bottle Let Me Down'Merle Haggard3:16
7.'Sleepless Nights'Felice and Boudleaux Bryant3:25
8.'Coat of Many Colors'Dolly Parton3:42
9.'For No One'John Lennon, Paul McCartney3:40
10.'Queen of the Silver Dollar'Shel Silverstein5:14

Bonus tracks[edit]

Free Pieces Of The Sky Emmylou Harris Rar Programs

A 2004 CD reissue added two previously unissued bonus tracks:

  1. 'Hank and Lefty' (Dallas Frazier, Doodle Owens) – 2:50
  2. 'California Cottonfields' (Dallas Frazier, Earl Montgomery) – 2:47

Personnel[edit]

  • Emmylou Harris – vocals, acoustic guitar
  • Brian Ahern – acoustic guitar, guitar, bass
  • Bruce Archer – acoustic guitar
  • Duke Bardwell – bass
  • Byron Berline – fiddle, mandolin
  • James Burton – electric guitar, Gut-string guitar, Dobro
  • Mark Cuff – drums
  • Rick Cunha – acoustic guitar, guitar
  • Nick DeCaro – string arrangements
  • Amos Garrett – electric guitar
  • Richard Greene – fiddle
  • Tom Guidera – bass
  • Glen Hardin – piano, electric piano, string arrangements
  • Ben Keith – pedal steel
  • Bernie Leadon – acoustic guitar, bass, banjo, dobro, backing vocals
  • Bill Payne – piano
  • Herb Pedersen – acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, banjo, backing vocals
  • Danny Pendleton – pedal steel
  • Ray Pohlman – bass
  • Linda Ronstadt – backing vocals
  • Ricky Skaggs – fiddle, viola
  • Fayssoux Starling – backing vocals
  • Ron Tutt – drums
  • Brian Ahern – producer, engineer
  • Chris Skene – engineer
  • Paul Skene – engineer
  • Fran Tate – engineer
  • Stuart Taylor – engineer
  • Lisa Phillips – angel drawings on cover

References[edit]

  1. ^Ankeny, Jason. Pieces of the Sky at AllMusic
  2. ^Christgau, Robert (1981). 'Consumer Guide '70s: H'. Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN089919026X. Retrieved February 24, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. ^Sweeting, Adam (9 April 2004). 'Emmylou Harris, Pieces of the Sky'. The Guardian. Retrieved 24 January 2016.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

External links[edit]

  • Pieces of the Sky (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pieces_of_the_Sky&oldid=1021241884'




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