There’s a heat wave blowing
through town this week, and I’ve been enjoying it. My office becomes a bit of a
roaster at this time of the year, but I still put on a suit and tie every day.
This is partly because I think you
should dress the part if you work at a white collar job, but I also do it for
the psychological divide it creates when I finally leave work. I am sitting
here writing this review in a pair of loud yellow shorts and a Steve Earle tour
shirt and despite a hard day, I am thinking mostly about music. Clothing matters.
Disc 638 is….All The Road Running
Artist: Mark
Knopfler and Emmylou Harris
Year of Release: 2006
What’s up with the Cover? A lonely desert
road, marred only by…ridiculous swooshes of neon? This is a time lapsed photo
where the vehicle lights create a conceptual design aimed at marrying the
Americana folk of Emmylou Harris and the electrified rock of Mark Knopfler into
a single image. Or maybe this is what happens when those computer animated
movers from the “Money for Nothing” video drive through your town delivering appliances.
How I Came To Know It: I was already a fan of both artists,
but to be honest in 2006 when I bought this I probably found it under the Mark
Knopfler section. I was a dedicated fan of Knopfler’s solo work and eager for
whatever he was going to do next, and this was it.
Hence this
album was at least partly responsible for rekindling my love of Emmylou Harris’
music, and I’ve gone on to purchase a lot of her back catalogue since.
How It Stacks Up: I have ten Emmylou Harris albums, plus two where she
shares top billing (this one and “Old Yellow Moon” with Rodney Crowell). I
have seven of Mark Knopfler’s solo albums, plus two where he shares top billing
(this one again, and “Neck and Neck” with Chet Atkins). I can’t really
compare this to the solo albums of each artist, but in the case of their
respective collaborations, “All the Road Running” is my favourite on both sides
of the ledger
Rating: 4 stars
With the sheer amount of musical
collaborations Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris are part of this album feels
almost inevitable. I’m just surprised it took this long.
Of course, they were making music
in different worlds for many years; Emmylou doing the country music thing and
Knopfler rocking out in Dire Straits. “All the Road Running” is them coming
together in their second careers. Both are significantly more removed from the
spotlight than they were before, and both are using the artistic space that can
create to make some of the best music of their careers. Knopfler has relaxed
his guitar shredding for a more relaxed blues/roots style while Harris has
become more alternative, willing to risk forays into rock edged production. Their
meeting up for “All the Road Running” is less about them adjusting their styles
to fit, and more them naturally growing naturally to common ground.
The result is a seamless blend of
two great talents who have parked their egos at the door. The style is mostly the
contemporary folk that Knopfler has embraced since he released his first solo
album in 1996, with easy flowing melodies and one foot planted firmly and
nostalgically in the past.
Knopfler wrote all but one of the
12 songs, and it is pretty clear that he had Emmylou in mind. There is a
traditional swing rhythm in almost all of them that brings an old school country
sound to his music that is much stronger than on any other record. Each track is
some form of duet featuring plenty of opportunity for Harris to shine as both a
lead vocalist and as popular music’s greatest harmonizer.
Many of the songs are sung as a ‘couple’
with verses traded back and forth with a warmth that belies the respect and
admiration these two artists obviously have for each other. There are up tempo
love songs like “This Is Us” where
you can see them as a long-time couple flipping through old photo albums,
finishing each other’s sentences. It made me think of Emmylou’s more recent
collaboration with Rodney Crowell on the tearjerker “Back When We Were Beautiful,” but with laughter instead of tears.
Emmylou gets one writing credit for “Belle Starr” which once again had me wishing she would write more of her songs. She’s a natural, but it just seems to be in her nature to gracefully take a back seat to other talents.
“This is Us” and “Right Now”
are also good examples of Knopfler’s adaptability on guitar. Even when he plays
rock riffs over these decidedly country constructions, the result feels easy
and natural. Emmylou’s trademark quaver is a nice compliment to Knopfler’s big
blue notes, neither ever so sharp as to cut across the other.
My favourite song on the album is “Donkey Town,” a song about a love
triangle in a trailer park with a group of characters that have had their share
of bad luck. Even if you’ve never lived in a trailer park, when Knopfler sings
about ‘hangin’ round in Donkey Town, too
long, baby, too long” you can feel that deep yearning that comes from
people who can imagine a better life, but not see their way clear to get there.
The song has a slow, relaxed feel
that belies the tension between a neighbor and his growing relationship with the
wife of an ornery army veteran living in a nearby trailer. Just when you think
our hero is going to take her away from the old bastard, the song throws you a
curveball:
“It was Friday late and she crossed those legs
She told me flat out she would
If I could pull up my trailer pegs
We could get away together for good
I sure wish her the best of luck
She’s going to need it, thinking of Jim
I don’t like to leave her stuck
But she’s near as bad as him.”
I love the use of “she crossed those legs” which summons up a pretty
picture in my head. Obviously the narrator was impressed as well, just not
enough to help her pack a suitcase.
Emmylou’s voice and Mark Knopfler’s
guitar have always individually had the ability to make the hairs stand up on
the back of my neck. Together they have the good sense to not tread on each
other’s power, but instead create a gentle blended experience. The result is a
relaxing record with a subtly complicated grace.
Best tracks: Beachcombing,
I Dug Up a Diamond, This Is Us, Rollin’ On, Donkey Town, Belle Starr, Beyond My
Wildest Dreams, All the Road Running
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