Bluebird (album)

After the modest non-commercial Angel Band project, the singer returned to a more familiar format with the Bluebird album ^[1] . The work contained a combination of country rock inherent in Harris, the work of eccentric songwriters and fresh readings of the classics of country music ^[2] . Like its conceptual disc The Ballad of Sally Rose , the new release united the tracks with a single theme - this time of lost love ^[3] . The album was produced together with Harris by guitarist Richard Bennett. ^[4] Nonstandard art here reflected the work of Kate McGerrigle , Tom Rush and Butch Hancock ^[5] . Thus, the last two enriched the recording with the compositions “No Regrets” and “If You Were a Bluebird”, respectively ^[6] .

In addition, Harris showed off her versions of “You've Been on My Mind” by Rodney Crowell and Icy Blue Heart by John Hyatt ^[6] . A rather rare phenomenon took place in the tracklist - the ballad “A River for Him” written by Harris herself ^[3] . The culmination of the project was the interpretation of Johnny Cash 's country style classic “ I Still Miss Someone ” ^[5] . However, the most popular tracks were “Heaven Only Knows” by Paul Kennerly and “Heartbreak Hill”, composed by him with Harris ^[4] . In general, the disc was a proven option for the artist and followed her well-established standards ^[4] . The album also became the final work of the 1980s for Harris ^[7] .

Bluebird reached number 15 in Top Country Albums ^[8] . The first single, Heartbreak Hill, reached position No. 8 in Hot Country Songs , and Heaven Only Knows, which came out after it, reached No. 16 ^[9] . The song “I Still Miss Someone” did not rise above line number 51 ^[10] . The album in 1989 was nominated for a Grammy Award as “The Best Female Vocal Country Performance ” ^[11] . A decade and a half later, the album unexpectedly caught the attention of the public again when the song “Heaven Only Knows” sounded on the television series “ Clan Soprano ” (opening and closing the episode of “Two Tony” in the fifth season) ^[6] .

• DeYoung, Bill. Emmylou Harris: The Sweetheart of the Rodeo (Eng.) // Goldmine: magazine. - 1996. - 2 August ( vol. 22 , iss. 418 , no. 16 ). Archived July 21, 2018.
• Havranek, Carrie. Women Icons of The Rebels, Rockers, and Renegades . - Greenwood Press, 2009. - p. 141-160. - 270 p. - ISBN 9780313340840 .
• Larkin, Colin. Harris, Emmylou // The Encyclopedia of Popular Music . - London: Omnibus Press, 2011. - P. 1670-1675 (by URL). - 2054 p. - ISBN 9780857125958 .
• Rolling stone Emmylou Harris // The New Rolling Stone Album Guide / Nathan Brackett, Christian David Hoard. - Simon and Schuster, 2004. - p. 365-367. - 930 p. - ISBN 9780743201698 .
• White, Timothy. The 1999 Century Award: Emmylou Harris (English) // Billboard: magazine. - 1999. - 4 December ( vol. 111 , no. 49 ). - P. 13-17 . - ISSN 0006-2510 .