One of her best albums, 1980's Roses in the Snow, is energized by her engagement with new traditionalists like Ricky Skaggs, whose dark, surging duet on "Green Pastures" is a highlight of both of their careers-or of anyone's career, for that matter. But in general her enthusiasm for finding new artists to work with has been a huge boon for her music. And I have to admit my deep distaste for "Sultans of Swing" has made me afraid to really engage with her 2006 album with Mark Knopfler. Her work with Daniel Lanois sometimes sounds more bloated than sweeping. Not every one of Harris's collaboration has been a total success. And she worked with distinctive producers, such as Brian Ahern (to whom she was married for a time) and, somewhat startlingly, Daniel Lanois, whose big, echoey, New Age soundscapes re-energized her career on 1995's Wrecking Ball. She recorded with other singers-most famously on her massively successful 1989 Trio album with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton. She was known for championing young songwriters, like Rodney Crowell, who also joined her band. The Long, Complicated History of Mamas in Country Musicīut even after she started recording albums in her own right, her solo career was never precisely solo. Her first famous recordings were as Gram Parson's protégé and collaborator, lending her pure harmony to his wasted hippie warble on 1974's Grievous Angel. She's pretty much always sharing someone else's vision, or asking someone else to share hers. A Vision Shared is, after all, a big part of what her career has been about. Still, there's something right about it as an introduction to her work. "Hobo's Lullaby" isn't one of Harris's radio hits, and it's not a song she's especially associated with. As I said, it was the first time I'd heard her voice, and I never forgot it. But Harris's effort still stood out, as she turned Guthrie's ode to life on the rails into a sweet keening, as much elegy as lullaby. There are lots of great performances on the album: Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska-esque "I Ain't Got No Home" and Brian Wilson's Phil-Spector-worthy treatment of "Goodnight Irene" for example. Lead Belly's recording date of this blues standard is unknown, but Pete Seeger learned it from him and carried on the tradition.The first Emmylou Harris song I heard was " Hobo's Lullaby." It was a track off of Folkways: A Vision Shared, a collection of cover versions of songs associated with Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down, Lead Belly Lead Belly recorded a version in 1934 at Louisiana's Angola Prison, and John Fogerty and bandmates re-energized it (and Lead Belly's Cotton Fields) on 1969's Willy and the Poor Boys. The Midnight Special, Creedence Clearwater Revival The "King of Skiffle'' was the UK's most important musician before the Beatles, whom he influenced with this washboard-driven version of a Lead Belly standard. One of the most popular blues songs of the 1920s took on a new life with Lead Belly's 1943 version, featuring Sonny Terry on harmonica.įirst recorded by Texas Alexander in 1927, the song was done by Lead Belly for his final sessions in 1948 and Eric Burdon's Animals took it to No. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out, Derek and the Dominosīessie Smith popularized Jimmy Cox's song in 1929, Lead Belly boosted it further in the 1940s, and Eric Clapton and Duane Allman bonded over it in 1970 on the Layla album. The Plant-Page arrangement is inspired by Lead Belly's 1939 Gallis Pole, but the rockers didn't credit him on Led Zeppelin III. Singer Bill Bartlett led the Lemon Pipers pop group, which morphed into Starstruck which morphed into Ram Jam, which scored a minor and mildly controversial hit with this song in 1977. Kurt Cobain recorded this harrowing version with his bandmates in 1993, which wound up on the posthumous release MTV Unplugged in New York. It was his signature song, but he died the year before the Weavers made it a national hit in 1950. USA TODAY's Jerry Shriver highlights songs he popularized and notable covers. With airings of a Smithsonian Channel special Legend of Lead Belly this month and Tuesday's release of the five-disc set Lead Belly: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, the late folk-blues icon Huddie "Lead Belly'' Ledbetter gets his due.
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