Luxury Liner (Remastered)

Paradoxically, Harris helped push country music forward in the 1970s by taking it backwards. Her music embraced the pristine sounds and starkly haunting sentiments of centuries-old Appalachian tunes, gospel standards and cowboy balladry. She applied these values (via her shiver-inducing, crystalline voice) brilliantly on 1977's Luxury Liner. Arguably her first full-realized album, Harris found the link between such diverse songs as the Louvin Brothers' poignant "When I Stop Dreaming" and Townes Van Zandt's latter-day outlaw ode "Pancho and Lefty." She kicks up her heels on her readings of Chuck Berry's "(You Never Can Tell) C'est La Vie" and the Gram Parsons-penned title track, making down-home rock sound as timeless as a mountain tune. Emmylou's soon-to-be legendary group The Hot Band plays lean, clean and scorching throughout. Luxury Liner is a milestone in Harris' artistic pilgrimage, an inspiring mix of old-time musicality and contemporary creative ambition.