Old Yellow Moon

Old Yellow Moon
Old Yellow Moon
Studio album by Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell
Released	February 26, 2013
Recorded	2012
Genre	Country, folk
Length	41:06
Label	Nonesuch
Producer	Brian Ahern
Emmylou Harris chronology
Rodney Crowell chronology

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(7.5/10) [1] 75/100, 14 critics
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	link
Aftonbladet	link
Paste	link
Rock Cellar	link
Rolling Stone Germany	link
Slant Magazine	link
Stereo Subversion	B+ link
The Independent	link
Uncut	link
USA Today	link
Vue Weekly	link

Old Yellow Moon is a Grammy Award-winning collaborative album by American country music singer-songerwriters Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, released on February 26, 2013 in the United States by Nonesuch Records.^[1] It is the twenty-seventh and tenth studio albums for both Harris and Crowell, respectively, as well as Harris's fifth album for Nonesuch Records.

Produced by Harris' ex-husband and longtime producer Brian Ahern, Old Yellow Moon was recorded in 2012 at Eastern Island Sounds and Ronnie's Place, both in Nashville.^[2]

Album information[]

Old Yellow Moon is the latest of many collaborative projects of Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell and the first that ultimately resulted in an entire album. As both artists have stated multiple times, the duet album was being planned for a long time. In the liner notes of Harris' 2007 Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems box set she writes that "we've been talking for 34 years about doing a duet record, and I swear we're going to do it."^[3]

Having met nearly 40 years before the release of this album, in 1974, the two started working together almost instantly, by recording the Crowell-penned "Bluebird Wine". The song became the opening number for Harris's 1975 Pieces of the Sky album and has been re-recorded for Old Yellow Moon with slightly altered lyrics and, for a change, Rodney Crowell singing lead.

During 1975, Crowell became part of Harris' backing band "The Hot Band". As such he toured with her and is featured as musician on most of her 1970s and 1980s albums. In addition, Emmylou Harris has recorded roughly 20 Crowell-composed songs over the years, such as "I Ain't Living Long Like This", "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight" and "Till I Gain Control Again". Emmylou returned the favor and can be heard prominently as backing vocalist and musician on Crowell's debut LP Ain't Living Long Like This, released in 1978.

The disc was another Top 10 Country album for Harris and won her a 13th Grammy Award in 2014 for "Best Americana Album".^[4]

Song information[]

The first song from Old Yellow Moon that was made available to the public was its opening number "Hanging Up My Heart", which was uploaded to YouTube in December 2012.
For this record, the duo mostly revisits older compositions, such the aforementioned "Bluebird Wine" and the Crowell-penned "Here We Are", which was recorded by Emmylou and George Jones in 1979 for his My Very Special Guests album.
Also included is Roger Miller's "Invitation To The Blues", which was a US Country top-3 hit for Ray Price in 1958.
"Spanish Dancer" was written and recorded by Patti Scialfa for her Rumble Doll in 1993. On Old Yellow Moon, the song becomes a typical Emmylou ballad, much like Matraca Berg's 1997 single "Back When We Were Beautiful", in which Emmylou convincingly portrays an aging woman.
"Open Season on My Heart", partly written by Crowell, was previously recorded in 2004 by Tim McGraw for his album Live Like You Were Dying.
"Chase The Feeling", which together with "Black Caffeine" offers a somehow different and "harder" sound compared to the album's other tracks, was penned by Kris Kristofferson and released on his 2006 album This Old Road.
"Dreaming My Dreams" was written by Allen Reynolds, who produced a couple of albums for Emmylou Harris on the early 1990s: the much acclaimed Cowgirl's Prayer and At the Ryman. Originally "Dreaming My Dreams With You", the song was a top 10 hit for Waylon Jennings and provided the title to his twenty-second album.
"Bull Rider" was written by Crowell for Johnny Cash, who recorded it for his 1979 album Silver. When released on single in 1980, the song eventually reached number 66 on the US Country charts.
The album's title track is yet another composition by Hank DeVito, another member of Harris's "Hot Band" from the 1970s.

Track listing[]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Hanging Up My Heart"	Hank DeVito	2:52
2.	"Invitation to the Blues"	Roger Miller	3:38
3.	"Spanish Dancer"	Patti Scialfa	3:44
4.	"Open Season on My Heart"	Rodney Crowell, James T. Slater	3:41
5.	"Chase the Feeling"	Kris Kristofferson	3:31
6.	"Black Caffeine"	Donivan Cowart, DeVito	3:23
7.	"Dreaming My Dreams"	Allen Reynolds	3:18
8.	"Bluebird Wine"	Crowell	2:56
9.	"Back When We Were Beautiful"	Matraca Berg	3:40
10.	"Here We Are"	Crowell	3:15
11.	"Bull Rider"	Crowell	3:05
12.	"Old Yellow Moon"	DeVito, Lynn Langham	3:37
Total length:			40:40

Personnel[]

Emmylou Harris – vocals, acoustic guitar, tambourine
Rodney Crowell – vocals, acoustic guitar

Additional musicians[]

Brian Ahern – acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, electric baritone guitar
James Burton – electric guitar
Chad Cromwell – drums
Dennis Crouch – bass
Stuart Duncan – banjo, fiddle, mandolin
Larry Franklin – fiddle
Paul Franklin – steel guitar
Vince Gill – classical guitar, vocals
Marco Giovani – drums
Emory Gordy Jr. – bass
Glen Hardin – electric piano
John Hobbs – piano
Jim Hoke – accordion
Jedd Hughes – electric guitar
David Hungate – double bass, bass guitar
John Jorgenson – electric guitar, mandolin
Lynn Langham – piano
Bill Payne – Hammond B-3 organ, piano
Mickey Raphael – bass harmonica
Michael Rhodes – bass
Steuart Smith – electric slide guitar, electric guitar, mandocello
Tommy Spurlock – steel guitar
John Ware – drums
Reese Wynans – piano

Recording staff[]

Brian Ahern – producer
Shannon Ahern – production assistant
Chuck Ainlay – engineer
John Baldwin – assistant engineer
Donivan Cowart – engineer
Bob Ludwig – mastering engineer
Noland O'Boyle – assistant engineer

Charts[]

Chart (2013)	Peak position
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)	38
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)	115
Danish Albums Chart	32
Dutch Albums Chart	22
French Albums Chart	123
German Albums Chart	71
Irish Individual Artist Albums	33
New Zealand Albums Chart	24
Norwegian Albums Chart	6
Swedish Albums Chart	12
Swiss Albums Chart	47
UK Albums Chart	42
UK Country Albums Chart	1
US Billboard 200	29
US Billboard Top Country Albums	4
US Billboard Top Folk Albums	3

References[]

^ "Emmylou Harris | Nonesuch Records". Nonesuch.com. Retrieved 2013-02-26.
^ Old Yellow Moon, booklet
^ Emmylou Harris (2007): Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems (box set), booklet
^ Whitaker, Sterling. "2014 Grammy Awards – Country Winners List". Retrieved 2 February 2014.

[1] "Emmylou Harris | Nonesuch Records". Nonesuch.com. Retrieved 2013-02-26.

[2] Old Yellow Moon, booklet

[3] Emmylou Harris (2007): Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems (box set), booklet

[Grammy-4] Whitaker, Sterling. "2014 Grammy Awards – Country Winners List". Retrieved 2 February 2014.

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show v t Emmylou Harris
Studio albums	Gliding Bird Pieces of the Sky Elite Hotel Luxury Liner Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town Blue Kentucky Girl Light of the Stable Roses in the Snow Evangeline Cimarron White Shoes The Ballad of Sally Rose Thirteen Angel Band Bluebird Brand New Dance Cowgirl's Prayer Wrecking Ball Red Dirt Girl Stumble into Grace All I Intended to Be Hard Bargain
Collaboration albums	Trio (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt) Trio II (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt) Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions (with Linda Ronstadt) All the Roadrunning (with Mark Knopfler) Old Yellow Moon (with Rodney Crowell) The Traveling Kind (with Rodney Crowell)
Live albums	Last Date At the Ryman (with The Nash Ramblers) Spyboy
Soundtrack albums	Honeysuckle Rose
Compilation albums	Profile: Best of Emmylou Harris Profile II: The Best of Emmylou Harris Duets Songs of the West The Very Best of Emmylou Harris: Heartaches & Highways Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems
Video albums	Real Live Roadrunning (with Mark Knopfler)
Notable singles	"If I Could Only Win Your Love" "Together Again" "One of These Days" "Sweet Dreams" "(You Never Can Tell) C'est La Vie" "Making Believe" "To Daddy" "Two More Bottles of Wine" "Save the Last Dance for Me" "Blue Kentucky Girl" "Beneath Still Waters" "Wayfaring Stranger" "The Boxer" "Mister Sandman" "If I Needed You" (with Don Williams) "Tennessee Rose" "Born to Run" "(Lost His Love) On Our Last Date" "I'm Movin' On" "So Sad to Watch Good Love Go Bad" "In My Dreams" "Pledging My Love" "Heartbreak Hill" "Heaven Only Knows" "I Still Miss Someone"
Collaboration singles	"To Know Him Is to Love Him" (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt) "Telling Me Lies" (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt) "Those Memories of You" (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt) "Wildflowers" (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt)
Guest singles	"Thing About You" (with Southern Pacific) "We Believe in Happy Endings" (with Earl Thomas Conley)
Discographies	Discography Solo contributions Collaborations A–F G–K L–Q R–Z
Related articles	Roy Orbison John Denver Gram Parsons Daniel Lanois Rodney Crowell Desire The Last Waltz

show v t Rodney Crowell
Studio albums	Ain't Living Long Like This But What Will the Neighbors Think Rodney Crowell Street Language Diamonds & Dirt Keys to the Highway Life Is Messy Let the Picture Paint Itself Jewel of the South The Houston Kid Fate's Right Hand The Outsider Sex & Gasoline Old Yellow Moon Tarpaper Sky The Traveling Kind Close Ties
Compilation albums	The Rodney Crowell Collection Greatest Hits
Singles	"Elvira" "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I" "Ashes by Now" "Ain't No Money" "It's Such a Small World" "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried" "She's Crazy for Leavin'" "After All This Time" "Above and Beyond" "Many a Long and Lonesome Highway" "If Looks Could Kill" "My Past Is Present" "Now That We're Alone" "Lovin' All Night" "What Kind of Love" "Please Remember Me" "I Walk the Line Revisited"
Other songs	"The Answer Is Yes" "Heartbroke" "I Ain't Living Long Like This" "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight" "Making Memories of Us" "Queen of Hearts" "Song for the Life" "Voilá, An American Dream"
Related articles	Discography The Notorious Cherry Bombs The Notorious Cherry Bombs