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Tag: Emmylou Harris

  • Trios…

    Trios…

    What do you get when you have singing groups of three? Trios, of course!

    I am currently involved with a project on SingSnap.com that requires me to sing a song with two other women. We’re trying to decide what song we want to sing together. It’s not so easy, though, because I don’t really know these women too well. We all kind of have different tastes and styles. Because we need to pick a song soon and I want to be helpful, I figured today would be a good day to write a post about trios– specifically female trios.

    When I think of this topic, the first thing that comes to mind is the legendary trio consisting of Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris. Back in 1987, they came together on a project they called Trio and made gems like this…


    Oh, heavenly harmonies! “To Know Him Is To Love Him” is a great trio song.

    Then I started to think about newer trios… like Destiny’s Child.


    I must admit, I am more familiar with the version of “Emotion” Samantha Sang did in the 70s. But the tight harmonies on “Emotion” are very appealing, aren’t they?

    Unfortunately, the Bee Gees aren’t down with allowing their music on SingSnap.com, so that song is out. Back to the drawing board.

    What about the Dixie Chicks? They’re a trio and they are all over SingSnap.com! So let’s see…


    How about “Wide Open Spaces”? That song is a classic.

    Of course, if we wanted to do an 80s style trio, we could channel a little Bananarama.


    I always liked this song… It may be a little too pop, though it is a bonafide trio effort!

    Or we could go really old school and try an Andrews Sisters hit. Remember “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree”?


    This might be pretty hard to pull off… Gotta love those harmonies, though.

    The Maguire Sisters were a little more soulful…


    The 50s and 60s may be the best source for finding good trios!

    This could be a real project for me this weekend. Anyone have other suggestions for good songs for female trios? Feel free to leave me a comment!

  • Unlikely collaborations…

    Unlikely collaborations…

    Every day, I run across something that reminds me that unlikely collaborations can lead to amazing creations…

    I was home alone last night. My husband, Bill, was on his way home from New York City, where he attended a job interview. The interview seemed to go well; we should know the outcome within the next week or so. Anyway, as is my habit, I was trying not to drink alcohol while he was gone. I think it’s a good practice not to and a good exercise in self-discipline. I lasted until about 8:00pm, then cracked open a beer. Bill was on his way home, after all. Oftentimes, when I start drinking beer, I get to a point at which I want to listen to music. That’s what happened last night. I realized that my music collection has quite a few unlikely collaborations in it. You know, music that was made by people you wouldn’t expect to get together…

    I kind of touched on this theme last week, when I wrote my post about oddly awesome covers. Maybe, once I listened to it, it wasn’t a huge stretch for Ricky Skaggs to make a record with Bruce Hornsby… though on the surface, it seems like their collaborations would be unlikely. As I was listening last night, I ran across some other unlikely collaborations. Texas legend Willie Nelson is pretty good for this practice. A few years ago, he made an album with Wynton Marsalis, famed jazz trumpeter.


    “My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It” is one of my favorite tracks from the unlikely collaboration of Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson. This was on their album, Two Men With The Blues.

    I ran across a very cool song Willie Nelson did with Santana back in the 1980s…


    I found this unlikely collaboration a few years ago, when I decided to download some Santana. It works.

    The great opera star Pavorotti had a very successful album series in the early 90s. He got together with rock stars like Sting, Bryan Adams, and even Barry White…


    Sting and Pavorotti


    Pavorotti and Barry White??? Wow… I wouldn’t have put them together.

    A few days ago, I read a very interesting article about funny country-alt singer and author Todd Snider. I own a few Todd Snider albums, having discovered his hilarious song “Beer Run”. I wouldn’t imagine he’d want to collaborate with a singer like Garth Brooks. But wouldn’t you know it? The “Friends In Low Places” country star sure enough wanted to cover one of Todd Snider’s songs. Garth Brooks was interested in recording Snider’s “Alright Guy” for his 1999 album, In the Life of Chris Gaines and even wanted Snider to play guitar on the project. It turned out Brooks didn’t end up putting the song on his album because his mother objected to the subject matter. But still, it’s a pretty cool story about two seemingly unrelated artists getting together to create something different.


    Todd Snider plays “Alright Guy” live.

    A few years ago, Emmylou Harris got together with Mark Knopfler and they made a fine album.


    Here they sing “Done With Bonaparte”… I love this!

    One might wonder why a country folk singer would hook up with a legendary rock guitarist like Mark Knopfler, who was the front man for Dire Straits for years and brought us songs like “Money For Nothing” and “Walk of Life”. But they blend pretty damn well, I think… kind of like Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.


    Alison Krauss and Robert Plant get together on a cover of “Black Dog”…

    I remember when I first heard about Alison Krauss and Robert Plant teaming up. It seemed like an unlikely collaboration, but their 2007 album Raising Sand was a huge success. I started thinking about other people I’d love to hear Alison Krauss play with… like Mark Knopfler! Why not?

    Music is a universal language and like any art, it can be expanded and shaped into new and unusual directions. I love finding unlikely collaborations among musicians I admire.

  • SingSnap brings people together

    SingSnap brings people together

    This week, I’ve found out how SingSnap brings people together

    Next week, I will be in the midst of a move. The packers are coming to gather up our belongings on Tuesday, and by Friday, all our stuff will be on its way to Texas. Consequently, it’s unlikely that I’ll be writing nearly as much next week. But this week, I have enjoyed some creative pursuits, including much time spent on SingSnap.com. On Tuesday this week, I was unusually prolific on SingSnap and a man from Norway ran across my recording of Don McLean’s “Vincent”. I had done it in a lower key and it turned out pretty nice. He left me a comment and then listened to a few of my other recordings, on which he also left comments.

    I was curious about my new Norwegian follower, so I went to his SingSnap page. Turns out he has a very nice voice himself and even writes songs. He didn’t have many recordings up; in fact, over the past week, he’s more than doubled what was on his page the first time I visited. But I noticed that he had an “open duet” available, Don Williams’ and Emmylou Harris’ cover of the Townes Van Zandt song, “If I Needed You”. I actually had only heard Lyle Lovett’s take on that song.


    Emmylou Harris and Don Williams sing “If I Needed You”.


    Lyle Lovett’s version of “If I Needed You”.

    And I will admit that I pretty much guessed how Emmylou Harris would sing her part in the duet. I didn’t listen to her version of the song before I recorded my part. Consequently, my version is probably more like Lyle’s done in Emmylou’s key.

    Anyway, I joined “brumm101” on that song and it turned out nicely. I posted it on Facebook and much to my surprise, several friends listened and enjoyed it. In fact, a former English professor of mine, now retired from many years of teaching at Longwood University listened to our recording and wanted to know how we did it. I explained how on SingSnap, you can sing your part, post it, and others can join you if you give them that option.

    Another online friend, who lives in Texas and sings, vows that there WILL be karaoke when we finally meet. I “met” him and his wife on Epinions.com roughly eight or nine years ago. I actually met his wife in person at an Epinions Meet & Greet in Washington, DC. I understand he’s quite the singer and, in fact, used to write excellent music reviews on Epinions. We’ve kept in touch over the years, despite my many moves. He offered his take on my duet with the Norwegian, too. And so did another “friend” I’ve never met in person, but who is a musician and mutual friends with a chef I used to work with years ago. He offered some suggestions and checked out some other stuff I did. It was a nice bonding moment.

    Yesterday, SingSnap had a duet challenge asking members to sing duets with people from other countries. Since I am American and brumm101 is Norwegian, it worked out well for us. We sang Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe”. I think I might have found a new friend!

    “brumm101” and I sing an old hit by Sonny and Cher.

    Making and sharing music is exciting to me, even if I’m only doing it on an online karaoke site. If I manage to make new friends and find good duet partners in the process, that’s a good thing.

    I hope everyone has a good weekend. I’ll try to post next week before my computer gets packed up for the move. If I don’t manage to, I’ll be back when I’m no longer in transit to Texas.