Friday song (on a Sunday): ‘Deeper Well’ by Emmylou Harris

Emmylou Harris is enormously talented – she has an astounding harmony voice and is a soloist with an instantly recognisable vibrato and a soprano as clear as a bell, which when she goes low, takes on a tender burr. She’s also songwriter and perhaps more than anything else, a complementary collaborator.

Emmylou has sung with almost all of country and folk and with some of rock royalty, making them sound good and building her own reputation as the “go to” harmony singer. First with Gram Parsons and then Dolly, Dylan, Ronstadt, Cash, Crowell, Knopfler, Welch, Springsteen, Prine, Matthews… and on and on the list goes.  But as a solo artist she has mined a rich seam – perhaps for today rather, a deep well – too, from country to Americana to folk gems, and recording some originals, but mainly interpreting the songs of others. 

And it was with Emmylou covers that I started this week. First, her superb rendition of Tracy Chapman’s All That You Have Is Your Soul. From there to the deluxe release of the Wrecking Ball album, which was a sonic departure and a collaboration of a different sort, this time with the production techniques brought by Daniel Lanois to the studio. Harris was happy to try something new and Lanois was insistent on challenging her conventional sound. 

There is real beauty on this record, including covers of two greats. The Neil Young title track is exquisite, as is Dylan’s Every Grain of Sand, which sounds more like a delicious rework of Chimes Of Freedom than Bob’s own. There are songs by Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Julie Miller and Gillian Welch too, but I’ve chosen for this Friday, a Harris co-write with Lanois, Deeper Well, one of the many treats on this album. 

U2’s Larry Mullen Jr.’s dull bass drum thud sets up the tempo for Lanois’ treated guitar parts ,which start as a drone but become intricate and varied. Tony Hall’s and Daryl Johnson’s bass parts go deep, playing off one another. Malcolm Burn’s keyboards create an atmosphere for a climactic build, around which Harris allows her voice, now beginning to age, to lean into understatement – gentle, urgent and holding both power and fragility. This album has so many fabulous tracks to reveal, it’s worth a close listen. 

Listen to Deeper Well on Spotify here and Apple Music here.

I started a music WhatsApp group in 2023. I send one song a week on a Friday, with links to both Apple and Spotify, and an accompanying narrative/capsule piece. If you want to engage about a song, get a playlist or just get in touch, email me on markgrosin@gmail.com.

For more of Mark’s great track selections, go here.

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