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Cowgirl's Prayer (1993)

Where the lyrics of Cowgirl's Prayer take you, and where it was really made.

The album that closed Emmylou Harris's mainstream country run got little radio airplay despite positive reviews.

Key places

Nashville recording studio (1993)

Recording site Nashville — The album was recorded at a studio in Nashville, Tennessee. The point marks the studio's location as given in the source. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Cowgirl's Prayer: seventeenth studio album by American country artist Emmylou Harris
• Released September 28, 1993 by Warner Bros. Records
• Follows the live acoustic album At the Ryman (1992)
• Mostly subdued material, with a couple of rockers such as "High Powered Love"
• "High Powered Love" is the album's first single
• Album name taken from the first line of the last song
• Last song is "Ballad of a Runaway Horse", written by Leonard Cohen

Background

• Released when older artists were being dropped from country radio playlists
• Received little airplay despite positive reviews
• Its relative commercial failure is said to have prompted Harris to change course
• Later work took a harder-edged sound, beginning with 1995's rockish Wrecking Ball
• Makes Cowgirl's Prayer Harris's last mainstream country album
• Jennifer Warnes' 1987 version of Cohen's song changed the protagonist from a cowboy to a cowgirl

Recording

• Recorded at a studio in Nashville
• Produced by Allen Reynolds and Richard Bennett
• Backing vocals by Trisha Yearwood, Ashley Cleveland and Alison Krauss
• Same musicians as the album's predecessor sessions, with additional backups

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Born April 2, 1947 in Birmingham, Alabama; American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader and activist.
• Regarded as a leading artist of the country rock genre in the 1970s and of Americana in the 1990s.
• Began in the Greenwich Village folk scene in the late 1960s; first album Gliding Bird (1970) under the name "Emmy Lou Harris".
• Discovered by Gram Parsons in 1971; sang harmony on his GP (1973) and worked with him on Grievous Angel before his death in 1973.
• Breakthrough with Pieces of the Sky (1975); five US country number-one singles by 1980.
• Trio (1987) with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt became her best-selling album; At the Ryman (1992) renewed interest in the Ryman Auditorium.
• Wrecking Ball (1995), produced by Daniel Lanois, is seen as a turning point toward Americana.
• Estimated over 15 million records sold; 13 Grammy Awards; inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
• Founded the dog rescue Bonaparte's Retreat in Nashville; organizes the Concerts for a Landmine-Free World benefit tour since 1999.

Reception

At release

• Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly gave an A+ and called it Harris's finest album in years
• Jack Hurst of the Chicago Tribune gave a 3/4 and praised a riveting collection of songs made memorable by a sparse sound
• Teresa Walker of the Associated Press described it as traditional country and haunting ballads spiced with blues and rock and roll
• Thom Jurek of AllMusic called it one of Harris's most emotionally honest and musically satisfying recordings
• Jim Bessman of Rolling Stone gave 3.5/5 and said the strength lies in a thematic song selection marked by Harris's return to songwriting
• Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times said the biggest strength is the song selection, which focuses on faith
• The Orlando Sentinel found it a bit uneven but said most tracks show Harris at her best

Records

• Peaked at number 34 on the US country albums chart
• Little radio airplay despite the positive reviews

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album's name comes from the first line of the last song.
• Jennifer Warnes' 1987 version of Leonard Cohen's song changed the protagonist from a cowboy to a cowgirl.
• Accompanying videos for the three singles received considerable exposure on CMT despite little radio airplay.
• The album is Harris's last mainstream country album, followed by the harder-edged Wrecking Ball.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

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