Luxury Liner [Remaster]

Performer: Emmylou Harris
Artist: Dolly Parton; Nicolette Larson
Producer: Brian Ahern
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Includes two previously unreleased bonus tracks. Personnel: Emmylou Harris (vocals, guitar); Nicolette Larson (vocals); Rodney Crowell, Albert Lee (guitar, background vocals); Brian Ahern, James Burton, Rick Cunha (guitar); Hank DeVito (pedal steel guitar); Mike Auldridge (dobro); Ricky Skaggs (fiddle, mandolin); Mickey Raphael (harmonica); Glen D. Hardin (piano); Emory Gordy (bass); John Ware (drums); Fayssoux Starling, Herb Pedersen, Dianne Brooks, Dolly Parton (background vocals). Recorded at the Enactron Truck, Beverly Hills, California. Originally released on Warner Bros. (2998). LUXURY LINER, Emmylou Harris' third album, found Harris' Hot Band undergoing a major transformation. Quick-picking maestro Albert Lee replaced lead guitarist James Burton. And future mega-star Ricky Skaggs, fresh from a stint with bluegrass pioneers J.D. Crowe and the New South, also signed on, taking Rodney Crowell's place. The result was a different, but equally breathtaking, version of what was fast earning a reputation as country music's finest ensemble. Aside from the personnel changes, LUXURY LINER is a typical early Harris album, filled with wonderful songs and performed with tons of feeling and tremendous skill. Harris takes mentor Gram Parson's title track and kicks it up a notch, allowing Lee to show off his trademark chops. Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho and Lefty" immediately follows and, while this isn't the recording of the song that topped the charts (Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard had a hit with it later), it clearly laid the blueprint for the blockbuster version. Other standout tracks on this uniformly excellent album include Chuck Berry's "C'est La Vie," the Louvin Brothers' "When I Stop Dreaming," and the Carter Family classic "Hello Stranger."

Rolling Stone (4/25/02, p.80) - 4.5 stars out of 5 - "...A premonitory mix of country rock, bluegrass, Texas folk, hill-country balladry, rockabilly twang and traditional country....This album is her apex: superbly chosen songs, hot picking and a definitive representation of her plangent, romantic sensibility..." Entertainment Weekly (2/27/04, p.99) - "[Harris] drew on [Gram Parsons's] earthy country eclecticism and blossomed." - Rating: B+ Q (4/04, p.132) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[I]ts Parsons-penned title track and Townes Van Zandt 'Pancho And Lefty' deftly showcasing her breadth." Uncut (4/04, p.112) - 5 stars out of 5 - "LUXURY LINE finds the voice even more expressive, sad-sweet with the subtlest ache, drawing out vowels almost as if blowing glass." Mojo (Publisher) (12/00, p.41) - "...The crafted apogee of her early albums with the Hot Band..."

Emmylou Harris first came to public attention as Gram Parsons's singing partner, but her solo career took off after his passing. Throughout the 1970s and '80s, she was a major force in progressive country, championing the works of great songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Paul Siebel. By the '90s, the eclecticism that she'd always practiced came to full bloom in the hands of producer Daniel Lanois, especially on her milestone 1995 album, WRECKING BALL.

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25