Emmylou Harris - Cowgirl's Prayer CD

Title: Cowgirl's Prayer Artist: Emmylou Harris Release Date: 1993 Label: Elektra, Elektra/Asylum, Grapevine, Koch Duration: 42:19 Album Type(s): lyrics/libretto UPCs: 075596154123, 075596154185, 9002723248265 Genre: Country Style: Contemporary Country Moods: Earthy, Rustic, Soothing, Autumnal, Elegant, Organic, Bittersweet, Calm/Peaceful, Earnest, Intimate, Literate, Melancholy, Plaintive, Poignant, Reflective, Wistful, Gentle, Refined/Mannered Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 0 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. A Ways to Go
2. The Light
3. High Powered Love
4. You Don't Know Me
5. Prayer in Open D
6. Crescent City
7. Lovin' You Again
8. Jerusalem Tomorrow
9. Thanks to You
10. I Hear a Call
11. Ballad of a Runaway Horse

Year Type Label Catalog # 2000 CD Koch 324826 1995 CD Grapevine 101 1993 CD Elektra 61541 1993 CD Elektra/Asylum 61541

No other editions were found for this album.

Cowgirl's Prayer, recorded in 1993, was the last album Emmylou Harris recorded before beginning a long association with producer and songwriter Daniel Lanois, creating her band Spyboy, and recording her exit from Elektra with Wrecking Ball. In other words, it was the last "traditional" Emmylou Harris record. Produced by Allen Reynolds and Richard Bennett, it features 11 stellar cuts by songwriters such as Lucinda Williams ("Crescent City"), Leonard Cohen ("Ballad of a Runaway Horse"), David Olney ("Jerusalem Tomorrow"), Kieran Kane ("The Light"), Eddy Arnold (the classic "You Don't Know Me"), and, in a welcome change, Harris herself ("Prayer in Open D"). This is also filled with Nashville session aces as well as Kane; backing vocalists who include Trisha Yearwood, Alison Krauss, and Ashley Cleveland; and famed bassist Edgar Meyer. The Arnold track, Harris' own composition, and her reading of Williams' "Crescent City" are standouts to be sure, in that Harris allows her voice to move deeper into the lyric than the arrangements would normally allow. But it is on Olney's "Jerusalem Tomorrow" that the weight of the album rests, with Al Perkins' whining pedal steel and Sam Levine's clarinet winding their way through the mix. The story involves a charlatan who heals the sick and makes a mute speak, a false prophet who feels his game is being eclipsed by a strange, wandering Galilean who doesn't charge for his works of wonder. When the false prophet encounters Jesus, he decides to go along with his game as long as his way is paid, and prepares to go into Jerusalem the next day. Given that it is spoken and not sung, Harris dislocates her way of conveying emotion in a song; that she becomes convincing as a male figure is another shapeshift, and finally that there is no overly moral tone in her delivery, but strictly one of empathy, opens up not only the song, but Harris and the rest of the album to an entirely different set of critical criteria. Cowgirl's Prayer is one of Harris' most emotionally honest and musically satisfying recordings that matches the intensity, diversity, and musical ambition of her earliest works. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Name Credits Al Perkins Pedal Steel, Guitar (Steel) Alison Krauss Vocals (Background) Allen Reynolds Producer Ashley Cleveland Handclapping, Harmony, Harmony Vocals Bob Wray Bass Bobby Wood Piano, Organ, Piano (Electric) Chris Leuzinger Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Acoustic) Connie Heard Violin David Hoffner Keyboards, Organ, Organ (Hammond) Dennis Wilson Harmony Vocals, Harmony Edgar Meyer Double Bass Emmylou Harris Harmony, Guitar (Acoustic), Main Performer, Harmony Vocals Emory Gordy String Arrangements Grace Bahng Cello Hurshel Wiginton Harmony, Harmony Vocals Jana King Harmony, Harmony Vocals Jay Spell Accordion, Piano Joe Loesch Special Effects John Heiden Design Jon Randall Stewart Harmony Vocals Kathy Chiavola Harmony, Harmony Vocals, Handclapping Kieran Kane Gut String Guitar, Guitar Kris Wilkinson Viola Larry Atamanuik Percussion, Drums Lori Brooks Harmony, Harmony Vocals Mark Miller Engineer, Mixing Mary Ann Kennedy Harmony Vocals, Harmony Mike Brignardello Bass Milton Sledge Drums, Percussion Pamela Rose Harmony Vocals Richard Aspinwall Assistant Engineer Richard Bennett Tambourine, Mandocello, Guitar, Guitar (Tremolo), Guitar (Electric), Producer, Guitar (Acoustic), Hi String Guitar (Acoustic), Percussion Robin Lynch Art Direction Roy M. "Junior" Husky Bass, Bass (Acoustic) Sam Bacco Percussion Sam Bush Fiddle Sam Levine Flute, Clarinet Suzanne Cox Vocals (Background) Tim White Photography Trisha Yearwood Harmony Vocals, Handclapping, Harmony