Ep. XLII: 'Light of the Stable' - Emmylou Harris

Happy Tuesday, Nation.

I think we've finally got a break in the weirdness this time around. . .

Album Title:  Light of the Stable:  The Christmas Album

Album Artist:  Emmylou Harris

This Holiday offering by Emmylou Harris is good.  If you're unfamiliar with her work, you'd probably recognize her Southern-tinged airy voice from the 2001 best-selling, knockout Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.  She's been around for decades, though, and is a pretty respected bluegrass artist, having performed with mainstream artists from the White Stripes to Robert Plant.  

I love bluegrass music (which shouldn't surprise any of you at all) because it feels genuine, and truth in music is so rare anymore that when you do stumble upon it, it's worth holding on to.  The genre, like its contemporary, the Blues, is rooted in American history (the former could be considered the folk music of White America, while the latter is that of Black America.)  While it's not something I listen to all the time - you really do have to be in the right mood for it, and I'll get more into that later - I'll always have a place in my heart for bluegrass music.

"Hey, Ms. Harris, what would you like to wear in the photo shoot for your new Christmas album cover?"  "A crocheted tablecloth, please.  And nothing else."

I think she took this picture in Farwell, Michigan. . .

That being said, Emmylou has a signature singing and musical style within the genre:  her own take on bluegrass music is more mellow, and slower in tempo, than a lot of her male contemporaries in the genre.  A lot of bluegrass makes you think of stompin' your feet on the wooden boards of your mama's Old Kentucky Home front porch, while you strum a banjo and throw back some of grand pappy's old moonshine, White Lightning, or the like.  Perhaps afterwards you'll couple with your cousin and then chase some black folks out of town before swimmin' naked down in the ol' crick. 

Emmylou's music doesn't conjure up the same imagery (thank God, it is Christmas, after all.)  Instead, we have quiet reflective mornings in the country - someone chopping wood, or milking a cow, or bottling up jam in a country cottage - not a lot of hoe-downs and hootenannies to be found on this album.  Appropriately, her track selection reflects this.  Nearly every song on this album is a religious carol, which suits her singing style perfectly.  The only exception is the old country favorite 'Christmas Time's a-Coming,' probably the most upbeat song on this album, but it feels more like a church-sponsored barn dance than a hootenanny.

There are no stinkers on this album - every, last song delivers.  It'd be a solid '8' or '9' if it wasn't pigeon-holed into such a specific genre (similar albums, like Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite or the Statler Brothers' country-gospel album, have suffered the same fate.)  I'm deducting one point simply because it's a bluegrass album, one because it's 'chill' (nothing wrong with that, of course, but you have to be in the right mood for it), and one because, well, it's not Charlie Brown's Christmas or The Muppets.

VERDICT:  7/10 - Pretty Rad (A great Holiday album, and one that's going to make future appearances on my turntable throughout the Holiday season.  Only when I'm in a chill mood, though.)

- REMAINS IN CIRCULATION -