Emmylou Harris

Malcolm Burn’s sludge-like, compressed sound on some of these songs is the only thing that keeps Harris’ first studio album since ‘95’s Wrecking Ball from being a personal masterpiece. Its arrangements and singing are superior, with 11 of 12 numbers written by Harris. She’s a master on numbers such as the metaphor-for-suffering “The Pearl,” the superb heartbreak narrative of the title song and “Tragedy,” which would have fit perfectly on Bruce Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love (that artist and his wife, Patty Scialfa, sing background harmonies). Dave Matthews joins Harris on a moving, elegiac tribute to her father, "Bang the Drum Slowly." Harris expresses country music’s thematic concerns of death, longing, tragedy and missed chances with lyrics that poetically transcend the maudlin, and her singing is even more effective as her voice thickens with age. She has an endless capacity to surprise.