Harris shines in good company
Emmylou Harris
All I Intended to Be (Nonesuch)
ESSENTIAL "Gold"
Like cool water on a hot day, Emmylou Harris's bruised-angel voice remains a welcome balm. On her new album, Harris has meticulously written and chosen a group of folk and country songs that support the nuances of that voice perfectly. Her A-list collaborators gloriously rise to the occasion, fleshing out "All I Intended to Be" with tasteful playing and vocalizing. Of the covers Patty Griffin's "Moon Song" is a picture postcard of longing, and Mark Germino's poignant weeper "Broken Man's Lament" is a hushed acoustic gem that finds the protagonist medicating his romantic sorrows with drink and Procol Harum. If there's a more heavenly choir than Dolly Parton and Vince Gill, it has yet to be discovered. The pair offers shiver-inducing back-up to the album's delicate, melancholic peak, "Gold," written by Harris. Just try not to tear up as Harris sings, "I'd finally gave up counting the ways you said I let you down/ When I fell into that river of no return and you watched me drown." Kate and Anna McGarrigle give Parton and Gill a run for their money with their trademark vocals and songwriting assistance on the banjo-flecked "How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower" and the dreamy "Sailing Round the Room." [Sarah Rodman]
