Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell Guide the ‘Old Yellow Moon’ to the PAC
Good news for local Americana fans and country music purists: Acclaimed country/folk singer Emmylou Harris and veteran Texas songsmith Rodney Crowell — both Grammy Award winners — are heading to the North Charleston Performance Arts Center for a concert on Fri. Jan. 31 at 8 p.m.
Harris and Crowell are longtime friends, and they recently collaborated on a 12-song album titled Old Yellow Moon (released in February on Nonesuch Records). Their duets include four songs penned by Crowell as well as renditions of some of their favorite songs, including Hank DeVito’s “Hanging Up My Heart,” Roger Miller’s “Invitation to the Blues,” and Allen Reynolds’ “Dreaming My Dreams,” among others.
Produced by Harris’s ex-husband and country studio wiz Brian Ahern (Johnny Cash, George Jones, Roy Orbison), Old Yellow Moon is the first official collaboration between Harris and Crowell since he joined Harris’ Hot Band as the guitarist and harmony singer in 1975, shortly after the sudden passing of Harris’ previous singing partner Gram Parsons. Crowell played with Harris in the Hot Band until 1977 when he left to pursue a solo career (he was replaced by multi-instrumentalist and singer Ricky Skaggs).
Harris wrote, recorded, and performed with a variety of folk, country, and blues acts through the 1980s, ’90s and 2000s. Her latest solo album, Hard Bargain, was released on Nonesuch in 2011.
Crowell’s 2011 memoir Chinaberry Sidewalks, a dark but humorous take on his dirt-poor upbringing near Houston, preceded his latest studio album, Kin: Songs by Mary Karr and Rodney Crowell, a collaboration with New York-based poet and essayist Mary Karr (a fellow Texas native).
Harris and Crowell embarked on a series of tour dates behind Old Yellow Moon in the spring. This week, they head back out for a string of fall and winter dates across the U.S. and Canada.
The duo’s recent performance on PBS’s “Austin City Limits,” recorded at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin, will debut on PBS on November 2. They’ll also appear on an “Austin City Limits” special on November 23 featuring the best music performances from this year’s Americana Music Association Honors and Awards ceremony at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, where they earned awards for Duo of the Year and Album of the Year.
Advance tickets for reserved seats at Performance Arts Center concert will go on sale for $48, $63, and $96 (plus fees) on Fri. Oct. 25 at 10 a.m. via the North Charleston Coliseum ticket office, all Ticketmaster outlets, by phone (800) 745-3000, or online at Ticketmaster.com and northcharlestoncoliseumpac.com.
Visit emmylouharris.com and rodneycrowell.com for more info and updates.
Top photo by David McClister.
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About the Author
Ballard Lesemann is a musician and writer. Born and raised in Charleston, S.C., he spent years playing in bands and working for Flagpole Magazine in the bustling music town of Athens, Ga. He returned to his hometown and served more than seven years as the Charleston City Paper's music editor. He's better at drumming than he is at playing guitar.
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