Maps of Music

Gliding Bird (1970)

Where the lyrics of Gliding Bird take you, and where it was really made.

Harris herself disowned this debut: she later counted 1975's Pieces of the Sky as her first official album.

Key places

Recorded at Select Sound Studios, New York (1970)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — The album was recorded at Select Sound Studios in New York. The marker shows the city centre of New York, not the exact studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Gliding Bird: debut studio album by American country singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris
• Released in 1970 on Jubilee Records, catalogue number JGS-8031
• The jacket prints her first name as two words, 'Emmy Lou'
• Harris later disowned the record and regards 1975's Pieces of the Sky as her first 'official' album
• Later issued on the Emus label as ES-12052 with a different cover

Background

• Before she met mentor Gram Parsons and became a famous country singer, Harris sang folk music
• The album already shows the eclecticism found in her later work
• Five folk-style Harris originals, with influences from Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell
• Other material: country-rock songs by Bob Dylan and Fred Neil, a classic country song by Hank Williams, and a folk-pop version of a Dionne Warwick/Bacharach/David hit
• The title song was written by her then-husband, Tom Slocum
• Jubilee Records folded shortly after the release, so distribution and promotion stopped
• Jubilee's catalogue was bought by Roulette Records
• The Ballad of Sally Rose (1985) was the next Harris album to contain more than two of her own compositions

Recording

• Ray Ellis is credited as producer and arranger
• Mickey Eichner is credited as executive producer
• Souren Mozian is credited as recording engineer
• The recording location is credited as Select Sound Studios, New York

Cover

• Cover design and photography credited to The Graffiteria

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

Reappraisal

• Harris disowned the record even though it is technically her first album
• Pieces of the Sky (1975) is treated as her first official album
• In 2007, an alternate, slightly shorter take of 'Clocks' from the sessions came out on the Songbird boxed set of rare material from Rhino Records
• The record is therefore known mainly through its later history and reissues rather than through its release

At release

• The album was released on Jubilee Records, a small label that did not last long after release
• Its promotion stopped once the label closed

Records

• Neither single released from the album reached any Billboard chart
• Jubilee Records folded shortly after release, which ended distribution and promotion
• Roulette Records bought the Jubilee catalogue
• A later release on the Emus label used catalogue number ES-12052 and a different cover

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title song 'Gliding Bird' was written by Harris's then-husband, Tom Slocum
• Harris later disowned the album, and treats her 1975 album Pieces of the Sky as her first official release
• Her first name is printed as two words, 'Emmy Lou', on the jacket
• A 2007 Rhino Records boxed set, Songbird, included an alternate, slightly shorter take of 'Clocks' from these sessions

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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