Wrecking Ball

When I was first overpowered by Wrecking Ball, I tried in vain to find out the influences Harris/Lanois were drawing from .... I immediately found Gram Parsons at the center of Harris' primary influences: GP/Grievous Angel (Reprise,1973; 1974) which feature a young Emmylou on one of her premier backing vocal gigs. What Parsons claimed he was trying to do, that held the key for me, was to birth a "Cosmic American music." & though I now love Parsons for his genius, I never think he sonically attained that expansiveness. & now that I really love a lot of the older country stuff as well, I still have no idea where Wrecking Ball came from...other than in taking up the promise of Parson's "Cosmic American music" & delivering a fully conceived/actualized take of it.

& don't let me hear a whisper about Wrecking Ball being Emmylou's "crossover" album to the rock/pop mainstream - I might draw blood. With this album, there is no trace of her leaving her country roots behind (or her country audience, for that matter), descending into some kind of VH1 "contemporary pop" category to expand her vampirous market reach, like, say, Shania Twain or Faith Hill (two goddesses that should be seen but not heard). Rather, Harris, should be seen & heard for who she is, a beautiful artist who's depth & appreciation for the heart of soulful music places her outside of any territorialized marketing scheme, particularly one as creatively shackled as the "new country." Some of her head-scratchin' country audience should realize that she comes to fufill her old country roots not destroy them - despite what the title Wrecking Ball seems to imply. Her explorations beyond present country standards descend to the bottomless - not to the top of the haughty pop charts - that is, the bottomless depths of the human heart. Investigate some lyrics to the track "Deeper Well" to get my meaning:

I was ready for love I was ready for the money
Ready for the blood & ready for the honey
Ready for the winnin', ready for the bell
Lookin' for the water from a deeper well
I found some love and I found some money
Found that blood would drip from the honey
Found I had a thirst that I could not quell
Lookin' for the water from a deeper well

Well...lookin for the water from a deeper well
Well...lookin for the water from a deeper well

So, please don't question the integrity of her judgement again, especially about any "crossover"! If anything, Emmylou has crossed over the "new country" abyss to that lost American music & tapped its well, tuning into its watery chaos, & sweetly offering you a sip of the future as well. But the flavor wouldn't be so rich without Lanois' contribution - her choice to choose him for this album proves Harris'genius.

If much modern American country music could let go of its hokey wordiness & hyper-commerciality and plunge back into the mystery of the American countryside, instead of drawing inspiration from "big city" honky-tonks of the deep South, it could recapture its lost soul. I say let Wrecking Ball be the fountainhead, the blueprint for what comes next. . . .

I thought of Harris as primarily a country/folk singer, but here she breaks free from the conventions of cheatin', hurtin', pickup trucks and what not; her song-selection addresses real issues here. I highly recommend picking up Wrecking Ball, a work of exceptional grace, depth, and beauty. Noteworthy number: "Deeper Well".