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Twenty-eight years after her major label debut, Emmylou Harris remains as vital, electric, and bold an artist as the young woman who moved to Nashville in the early ‘70s. But where she once carried on Gram Parsons’ vision of wedding hardcore country to contemporary rhythms, for the past decade Harris has explored an acoustic sonic landscape rooted in folk, yet set apart by driving percussion, world-music elements, and gauzy and ethereal vocals. Stumble Into Grace follows the Grammy-winning Red Dirt Girl with an even bleaker and beautiful collection of songs, almost all of which she wrote or co-wrote. Two songs concern themselves with social commentary, the slant-eyed "Time In Babylon" (co-written with Jill Cuniff of Luscious Jackson), poking a stick in the eye of designer fashions and TV culture, and the affecting "Lost Unto This World" framing scenes of female genocide throughout the ages. Yet much of the program has an Emily Dickinson quality about it, as if told from the point of view of a woman looking back on her past life, realizing it is almost over, and finding herself nearly crazed from lost opportunity, lost loves, and loneliness. Even her elegy to June Carter Cash, "Strong Hand," where Linda Ronstadt guests, centers on the "miracle of how one soul finds another." A poetic spirituality lifts up even the most hopeless lyric, as do the otherworldly background vocals (Julie Miller, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and Jane Siberry) and producer Malcolm Burn’s haunting instrumental touches (a Cuban churanga and a deftly-placed accordion, which offers a sympathetic wheeze). At 57, Harris may be square in the middle stages of chronological life, but as a performer, she is still in the forefront of genre-transcending artistry. --Alanna Nash

Product Description

Already one of contemporary music's legendary voices, the recipient of multiple Grammy Awards and a Billboard Century Award winner when Nonesuch signed her in 1999, Emmylou Harris' Red Dirt Girl- her first release for the label- marked a watershed moment as a Grammy-winning success and her best selling solo album in 20 yrs. With continued visibily as a member of the much-celebrated "O Brother" and "Down from the Mountain" caravan tours, and now with a September run of dates with Neil Young, her career is on a sustained high. Stumble Into Grace is espceially notable for some of the singers who lend their voices and collaborate with Emmyin its songwriting. The new album leads off with the uptempo radio focus track "Here I Am" with Julie Miller as co-writer and featured vocalist. A standout ballad is the poignant "Strong Hand" written in the tribute to June Carter Cash and sung with Linda Ronstadt, Jan Siberry joins Harris on the haunting "I Will Dream" and "Lost Unto This World," while the delicate strains of "Little Bird" and the traditional "Plasir d'Amour" are complemented by Kate and Anna McGarrigle's accompanying vocals; the former was also co-written by McGarrigles. Both are a counterpoint to the stronger rhythmic pulse of "Time In Babylon" and "Jupiter Rising.", ISBN13: B0000AKNEN ISBN10: B0000AKNEN Material Type: audioCD