Country perfection hits town
CONCERT
Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell
Perth Concert Hall
Sunday, June 21
Review: Ray Purvis
4
Touring Australia together for the first time country music legends Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell are a partnership made in heaven. With a shared history stretching back to 1974, their recently reinvigorated collaboration has already resulted in two fine albums and a shared Grammy Award.
Kicking-off their six-date Australian visit at the Perth Concert Hall on Sunday night, the duo’s close friendship and ease with one another — as well as the sublime blending of their remarkably compatible voices — was clearly evident throughout the nearly two-hour long performance.
It was a night that lovers of authentic country and Americana music won’t forget in a long while.
Harris and Crowell started with a selection of “old stuff”, including Gram Parsons classics The Return of the Grievous Angel and Wheels followed by Townes Van Zandt’s epic Pancho and Lefty and If I Need You You, plus a breathtaking cover of the Everly Brothers’ Love Hurts.
The two pros shared leads and joined in blissful harmony as they ran through a set of over 20 songs.
They effortlessly segued into Harris’ semi-autobiographical Red Dirt Girl and a song from Crowell’s acclaimed 2001 album The Houston Kid. These were followed by a wide-ranging selection of numbers from their collaborative albums, Old Yellow Moon (2013) and the recent The Travelling Kind, including reflective ballads Back When We Were Beautiful and You Can’t Say We Didn’t Try plus Roger Miller’s Invitation to the Blues and Lucinda Williams’ I Just Wanted to See You So Bad.
Full credit to the top-notch backing band that comprised the highly talented Aussie-born guitar whiz Jedd Hughes, who stole the show on a number of occasions with his awe-inspiring solos, pedal steel guitarist Steve Fishell, keyboardist Micah Hulscher, drummer John McTeague and Mike Rinne on upright bass.
The two stars and band were full of adrenalin on the rambunctious rockers The Weight of the World, Chase The Feeling, I Ain’t Living Long Like This, Bring It On Home to Memphis and the first encore Stars on the Water. The show ended with Harris’ classic Boulder to Birmingham leaving the audience in no doubt they’d witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime performance.
Brisbane-based country singer-songwriter Harmony James, who won an APRA Award for her 2012 song Emmylou’s Guitar, open the show with a strong set of songs that included stand-outs Tailwind and Skinny Flat White.
