If classic country is a dusty ranch populated with remorseful former outlaws, broken-down truckers and the occasional ex-rodeo queen, Emmylou Harris’ seasoned lilt has long been a welcome spring shower, staving off a drought of irrelevance just in time. Though her 21st solo effort carries more sorrow and hard-earned wisdom than recent albums and collaborations, it also downplays the melancholy at the core with deceptively straightforward lyrics, melodies and arrangements.
The Grammy winner retains her propensity for fluidly mixing originals and covers (Patty Griffin, Tracy Chapman and Merle Haggard are among those represented), all while opting to emphasize water as a focal metaphor of choice. A troubled lover builds a bridge in “Hold On,” while Harris feels rain (and her heart skips stones) before she marvels, “Some say I’m sinking/To the muddy bottom/But somehow I’m sailing” in “Shores of White Sand.”
While “Gold” laments, “I fell into that river of no return/And you watched me drown,” with the aid of Dolly Parton and Vince Gill, it’s the bittersweet ruminations of “Take That Ride” and “Old Five and Dimers Like Me” that foreshadow the opposite shore looming ahead. By the time she embraces the “pools of clear blue water” found “Beyond the Great Divide,” many tears are shed, but solid ground is found at last.
The bottom line: ***
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