EMMYLOU HARRIS: THE HOT BAND: TOGETHER AGAIN (1977: "samen opnieuw": FOR POWERGIRL)

TOGETHER AGAIN Together again my tears have stopped falling The long lonely nights are now at an end The key to my heart you hold in your hand More

TOGETHER AGAIN Together again my tears have stopped falling The long lonely nights are now at an end The key to my heart you hold in your hand But nothing else matters cause we're together again Together again the grey skies are gone You're back in my arms right where you belong The love that we knew is living again And nothing else matters cause we're together again Together again my tears have stopped falling The long lonely nights are now at an end The love that we knew is living again And nothing else matters now we're together again No nothing else matters now we're together again Written by : Buck Owens From the album : Elite Hotel Label : Warner Bros Records 7599 27246-2 (1975) The Hot Band from left to right: John Ware, Glen D. Hardin, Albert Lee, Hank Devito, Emmylou, Emory Gordy, Jr., Rodney Crowell Popular myth has it that Emmylou was discovered by Gram Parsons and rushed off to LA & stardom. The reality is a little different and interviews with Emmylou and others suggest the following. Chris Hillman credits Rick Roberts with telling him to go and see Emmylou. Chris met Emmylou and he later invited her to join the Flying Burrito Brothers. However, the Burritos broke up shortly afterwards and Emmylou continued to play clubs in and around Washington DC. In September 1971 Chris Hillman persuaded a reluctant Gram Parsons to see Emmylou play at a club called Clydes where she had a gig for 3 nights a week. They worked up and performed two songs; I Fall To Pieces & Thats All It Took. Gram Parsons, by now converted, then left Emmylou with promises of some recording work on his forthcoming album. Their meeting was followed by a gap of about a year. During that time Emmylou carried on playing in bars and getting the occasional phone from Gram to say that the recording would happen any time now. Finally, Gram sent Emmylou an airline ticket and invited her to sing on GP. The album was released in January 1973 and Emmylou spent $500 made from GP on a brand new D28 guitar and joined the tour band, The Fallen Angels, formed to promote the album. In Summer 1973 Gram recorded Grievous Angel but, unfortunately he died in September of that year. Emmylou returned to Washington and fronted her own band, The Angel Band, playing as many as four sets a night with a repertoire of over 40 songs. In 1974, Mary Martin at Warners arranged for Emmylou to meet producer Brian Ahern. Warners agreed to sign her on condition that Ahern produced the album and Emmylou signed with Warners in October 1974. Her first Warners album Pieces Of The Sky was recorded with a mixture of The Angel Band and many of the musicians from the Gram Parsons albums. Warners then told her to "get a hot band", which she did by persuading James Burton, Glen Hardin, John Ware, Rodney Crowell, Hank de Vito and Emory Gordy to form The Hot Band. In Spring 1975 the newly formed band rehearsed in LA without James Burton or Glen Hardin, who both had commitments with Elvis. The missing Hot Band members drove up overnight after the Elvis show finished and had just one rehearsal with the full line-up. The band then took one night off for a birthday party for Emmylou in a Mexican restaurant. They then played three nights at the Boarding House, San Francisco in with their first appearance as Emmylou Harris and The Hot Band taking place on April 3rd, 1975. The rest, as they say, is history. James Burtons stint as lead guitarist came to an end when Albert Lee joined the band. Albert Lee saw Emmylou at a club called the Laguna Bowl in early 1976 and Emmylou planned to ask him to join the Band when James Burton left. This plan was accelerated when James Burton fell ill with flu and Albert Lee first played with The Hot Band at The Branding Iron in San Bernadino in February 1976. Frank Reckard replaced Albert Lee two years later and stand-ins over the years for 1-off gigs have included Bob Warford, Jay Lacey and Vince Gill. All of the Hot Bands line-ups were outstanding in their own way. Phil Kaufman has said of Gram Parsons "He told her always to pay for the best and she'd play with the best." Warners fronted the money for The Hot Band but the venture is said to have put Emmylou $125,000 in debt. Few fans would dispute that it was money well spent. There are recordings around of all the various line-ups but even the roughest recordings of the Hot Band show that they were in a league of their own and set a benchmark for all Country groups. The recent Goldmine article differs slightly but not drastically. After all these years who is to say which is correct? Most of my info was taken from interviews with Emmylou & various Hot Band Members in 1975/6 in the UK magazine Omaha Rainbow Chris Baker UAM Ltd Phone +44 1705 870181 Fax +44 1705 870229 from left: Barry Tashian, John Ware, Steve Fishell, Wayne Goodwin, Don Johnson, Frank Reckard, Mike Bowden, EmmylouThe Hot Band Harris met Canadian producer Brian Ahem, who produced her major label debut album, Pieces of the Sky, released in 1975 on Reprise Records. The album included a number of cover songs, including The Beatles' "For No One" and Harris's first hit single, The Living Brothers' "If I Could Only Win Your Love". In 1977 Harris married Ahem and had another daughter, Meghann, in 1979. Harris and Ahem divorced in 1984. Executives of Warner Bros Records (Reprise Records' parent company) told Harris they would agree to record her if she would "get a hot band". Harris did so, enlisting guitarist James Burton and pianist Glen Hardin, both of whom had played with Elvis Presley as well as Parsons. Hardin had also been a member of Buddy Holly's band The Crickets. Other members were drummer John Ware, singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell on guitar, pedal steel guitarist Hank DeVito, and bassist Emory Gordy Jr with whom Harris had worked while performing with Parsons.[1] Later, bluegrass multi-instrumentalist and singer Ricky Skaggs became a member, as did English guitarist Albert Lee who replaced James Burton. Vince Gill was featured as well. Harris' subsequent Elite Hotel (1975), Luxury Liner (1977), and Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town (1978) were all successful country albums but also had appeal for rock listeners. Country music was experiencing crossover success at the time, and the approach of many country artists was to try to marry their music with smooth, L.A.-style pop, but Harris had more of a rock and roll sensibility and so aimed her music more in that direction. But Harris still embraced country. Her Grammy Award-winning 1979 gold-certified album Blue Kentucky Girl featured straight Loretta Lynn/Kitty Wells-style country and included Harris' #1 smash "Beneath Still Waters", while 1980's Roses in the Snow was another gold-certified collection of bluegrass and country material, featuring Ricky Scags, Tony Rice, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Douglas. [admirer collaborationist] In addition to her own solo work during this period, Harris began a number of ongoing collaborative relationships with other artists, many of which she would revisit throughout the course of her career. A Christmas album, Light of the Stable, was released in 1979; its title track featured backing vocals by Dolly Patton, Linda Ronstadt and Neil Young, all three of whom Harris had been working with sporadically since the mid-1970s. She later recorded two albums, Trio and Trio II, with Patton and Ronstadt (as well as a number of singles), a duet album with Ronstadt, and a number of various projects with Young. In addition, her vocals were prominently featured on Bob Dylan's 1975 Desire album. She also worked with The Band during this period, appearing in their film The Last Waltz. In 1980, Harris recorded "That LVN' You Feline' Again" with Roy Orbison. The duet was a Top 10 hit on both the Country and Adult Contemporary charts. They would win the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance
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