Impeccable. I think that one word pretty much summarizes my perspective on the music of Emmylou Harris. Her vocals? Impeccable. Her selection of material? Impeccable. Her choice of musicians? Beyond reproach. She has maintained a level of consistency in her musical output that is nothing short of stunning.

“Pieces of the Sky” is , for all intents and purposes, her debut solo album (she released a folky record back in 1969, before she found her own style), released a couple of years after the untimely death of Gram Parsons, and it provides a blueprint for the rest of her career. As the story goes, Warner Brothers Records acknowledged that Harris had potential as a solo artist but told her that she would need to “get a hot band”. She did not disappoint. She certainly earned a devoted audience from her time spent harmonizing with Parsons, but it seems that her biggest impact was on other musicians.

What else could explain her ability to attract some of the hottest musicians in the country, and then hold on to them for years? Elvis Presley – still alive at this time – quite naturally collected some of the best players available, and most of his band provides the bones for “Pieces of the Sky”. James Burton provides electric guitar, with Glenn Hardin and Ron Tutt handling piano and drums, respectively. She recruited both Byron Berline and Richard Greene, two of the best fiddle players in the world, and even brought in Ricky Skaggs. Bernie Leadon, then still in the Eagles, plays just about anything the album called for, and legendary studio instrumentalist Herb Pederson also joins in. For icing on the cake, she also gets support from Linda Ronstadt, Billy Payne (Little Feat) and pedal steel player Ben Keith, and that’s only a fraction of the team that had been recruited. 

The extraordinary band is only half of the story, though. Producer Brian Ahern (who would eventually become Harris’ husband) helped assemble the musicians, but also helped to assemble songs for the album. The eclectic songlist mixes classic selections along with a few surprises. Song by the Louvin Brothers (“If I Could Only Win Your Love”), Felice and Boudleaux Bryant (Sleepless Nights”), Billy Sherrill (“Too Far Gone”) and Merle Haggard (“The Bottle Let Me Down”) provide a ‘classic’ country bedrock for the album, but she also utilizes newcomer Rodney Crowell (who would become a major source of material for Harris), humorist Shel Silverstein, and even pulls from the Beatles. Her version of “Coat of Many Colors”, perhaps the best song Dolly Parton ever wrote, is performed with deep respect for Parton’s original recording, and retains all of its innate beauty. Perhaps most moving, though, is the album’s one original song, written in memoriam of Gram Parsons. Harris wrote “Boulder to Birmingham” with Bill Danoff (the same guy who wrote “Take Me Home, Country Roads”), and its emotional impact makes it the centerpiece of this remarkable collection. As stunning as “Pieces of the Sky” is as a stand-alone work, it also serves as a template for her next half dozen or so albums, so if you like this, there is plenty more to discover, all of it impeccable.

Feature tracks:

Bluebird Wine

Too Far Gone

If I Could Only Win Your Love (with Herb Pedersen)

Boulder to Birmingham

Before Believing

The Bottle Let Me Down

Sleepless Nights

Coat of Many Colors

For No One

Queen of the Silver Dollar

February 1975 - Billboard Charted #45