REVIEW Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Melbourne, June 25, 2015

Magic happens when Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell perform together.

The current Australian tour is in support of their album together ‘The Traveling Kind’, but also delves heavily into their previous joint album ‘Old Yellow Moon’ but Harris and Crowell have been tied musically since in the mid 70s.

Outside of the two joint albums the Harris and Crowell setlist is mainly Harris with an occasional Crowell. The show opens at the very start of Emmylou Harris’ career, with ‘Return of the Grievous Angel’, when she was the singer for Gram Parsons. Parsons and Harris recorded ‘Love Hurts’ together. Crowell takes the part of Parsons for a spellbinding live version.

Emmylou takes fans on a historic journey through her career revisiting her iconic 70s albums ‘Elite Hotel’ and ‘Luxury Liner’ numerous times and ends with her signature song ‘Boulder To Birmingham’.

Rodney touches on his solo career only twice with ‘The Rock Of My Soul’ midway through the show and his best known song, the classic ‘Stars On The Water’.

Like Bob Dylan’s band, this band is the perfect blend of musicianship. Crowell, the songwriter, is the heart of this show, Harris is the soul but guitarist Jedd Hughes is the muscle. It came as a complete surprise when Jedd was revealed as an Australian. The 33-year guitarist hails from Quorn, South Australia (look it up on Google maps). Hughes finished high school in South Australia and immediately moved to Texas to study bluegrass. In 2013 he became lead guitarist for Emmylou and Rodney’s band and worked on the ‘Old Yellow Moon’ album. Hughes also produced the debut album for Morgan Evans.

PHOTO GALLERY: Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell in Melbourne by Ros O’Gorman.

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Melbourne, June 25 2015 SETLIST

Return of the Grievous Angel (from Grievous Angel, 1974, Gram Parsons album)Wheels (from Elite Hotel, 1975, ELH)
Poncho & Lefty (from Luxury Liner, 1977, ELH)
Till I Gain Control Again (from Elite Hotel, 1975, ELH)
If I Needed You (from Cimarron, 1981, ELH)
Invitation To The Blues (from Old Yellow Moon, 2013, ELH & RC)
Red Dirt Girl (from Red Dirt Girl, 2000, ELH)
The Rock Of My Soul (from The Houston Kid, 2001, RC)
Love Hurts (from Grievous Angel, 1974, Gram Parsons album)
Luxury Liner (from Luxury Liner, 1976, ELH)
The Traveling Kind (from The Traveling Kind, 2015, ELH & RC)
Bring It On Home To Memphis (from The Traveling Kind, 2015, ELH & RC)
You Can’t Say We Didn’t Try (from The Traveling Kind, 2015, ELH & RC)
The Weight Of The World (from The Traveling Kind, 2015, ELH & RC)
I Just Wanted To See You So Bad (from The Traveling Kind, 2015, ELH & RC)
Dreaming My Dreams (from Old Yellow Moon, 2013, ELH & RC)
Chase The Feeling (from Old Yellow Moon, 2013, ELH & RC)
Back When We Were Beautiful (from Old Yellow Moon, 2013, ELH & RC)
Tulsa Queen (from Luxury Liner, 1977, ELH)
Leavin’ Louisiana In Broad Daylight, 1978, ELH)
Ain’t Living Long Like This (from Ain’t Living Long Like This, 1978, RC)
Old Yellow Moon (from Old Yellow Moon, 2013, ELH & RC)