Hard Bargain

Emmilou Harris: eternal love for music

Emmylou Harris is a name written in gold in the history of American and world country music, a name that became a symbol of creative longevity and genuine professionalism. In forty years of hard labor on stage and in studio, Harris has recorded over twenty solo albums and taken part in countless collaborations with true legends, including Neil Young and Bob Dylan. What enables the singer, who is far beyond her youth, to stay on top, write new songs and still give concerts? Probably, one of the key moments is her complete focus on music and nothing but music. She seems to have never been distracted by the matters of her image, commercial side of her activities and recognition with critics and listeners. With her music in the center of her attention, Harris has automatically gained a gigantic fame, a multitude of rewards and secured days of rest. And today the only reason why Emmilou keeps releasing records is the music itself, their unconditional, eternal and mutual love. There is no doubt that her twenty first full-length work, Hard Bargain, released in 2011, can not be a commercially dictated product, but is a pure piece of art, full of inspiration and enthusiasm.

A sad look back at the past

There were only three people taking part in the preparation of Emmilou’s new album: Harris herself, producer Jay Joyce and multi-instrumentalist Giles Reeves. The minimum number of acting persons ensured highly efficient organization and execution of the album in the shortest possible time. The outcome was a collection of thirteen songs, only two being covers and the rest of the catalogue being Harris’ new works having much in common with her past efforts. Hard Bargain has predictably a lot of ballad material with distinguished touches of grief. On the whole, the album is dedicated to the singer’s reminiscences as she recalls peoples and events she treasures. Hard Bargain is certainly a collection of images of sadness, but at the same time this sorrow is not dark nor is it oppressing. Harris knows well what passing time is and she has no inner conflicts over missed opportunities or old grudges. Even tracks commemorating her friends (The Road is about a musicians and her lover Gram Parsons, Darling Kate is about her friend and music cooperator Kate McGregor), sound far from tragic. Is rather that Emmilou tries to say thanks through these songs.

Hard Bargain is one more top quality product

Although Harris remains loyal to her style and filled Hard Bargain with slow music and prominent acoustic guitar, the albums has some space for tracks which hardly match this description. Particularly, these are purely rock and roll New Orleans, and eerie My Name Is Emmet Till. The former might be Harris’ most aggressive song ever made, and the latter is an account of a teenage murder in 1955. So, eve aged sixty four, Emmilou may at any moment through you a bitter politically or socially sharpened song instead of a lulling ballad. It is an unexplainable thing how easily she put together these two tracks with a sweet story called Big Black Dog about how she rescued… a sinking puppy. Sure, she is authorized to write about whatever she wants. There are her status and credits that allow her to do that. Whatever Emmilou offered on Hard Bargain, she would know for sure that the audience would eat it without even drinking up. But this is the point: she is not going to give us all sorts of stuff regardless of quality. Hard Bargain is an extremely polished work with all nuances taken into consideration. Even today, thirty six years after the release of her debut album, Emmilou Harris does not let her relax or be negligent when it comes to business.