Emmylou Harris: Today’s Country Music Isn’t “Washed In The Blood”
Emmylou Harris and long-time collaborator Rodney Crowell have a new album out with called The Traveling Kind, and while speaking in a joint interview with radio.com recently, Emmylou had some interesting words about what she thinks about today’s country music.
“I never listen to it, I have to be honest. Unless it’s by accident,” Emmylou said when asked if she relates to contemporary country. “When I do hear it by accident, it doesn’t relate to me at all, for the most part. There are some exceptions. I long for [artists like] Waylon Jennings. I don’t want to be the person who says ‘Country music has to be like this, and it can never change!’ I came in [to country music] and I think I had something to do with changing it, Rodney did too, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, all changed things in a subtle way. Or maybe a bigger way. But it took a strange turn at some point. And maybe it’s when it got really popular, I don’t know. To where it doesn’t seem to be, as a friend of mine would have called it, ‘washed in the blood.'”
Emmylou has made similar statements before about how she no longer listens to contemporary country, but there are a few artists she will still listen to, including some of country music’s top female performers.
“I like Miranda, because she’s a dog-person,” Emmylou said. Miranda Lambert is know for her working with stray dogs as her “pet” charity project. “She’s a little firecracker. I know that there’s a lot of great gals out there.”
Emmylou also asked interviewer, “Who’s the gal that did “’Same Trailer, Different Park?’” (referring to Kacey Musgraves). “She’s great, and I do like Ashley Monroe’s ‘Like a Rose.’ Beautiful song. Beautiful song! So they do pop up in the cracks of the sidewalk every once in a while.”
Meanwhile Rodney Crowell chimed in when Sturgill Simpson’s name was mentioned, “Is he getting into the mainstream? Yeah, he’s great.”
Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell are currently on tour together through October (check dates).
September 27, 2015 @ 6:09 pm
I love the examples of great modern country that she used. Ashley Monroe, in particular, could use a shout-out especially for her stellar “Like A Rose” album.
Regarding the important figures who changed country music in the 80s, we should not forget that George Strait, Randy Travis, and Highway 101 all played critical roles in overthrowing the Urban Cowboy era and reintroducing the traditional sound.
September 27, 2015 @ 7:30 pm
Yep. Also see: Ricky Skaggs.
September 28, 2015 @ 7:47 pm
Yes, true, but she was talking about the ’70s when she and Rodney started out, before the Urban Cowboy fad.
September 27, 2015 @ 9:08 pm
I’ve mentioned it here before but for anyone interested , the new Rodney -Emmy Lou record is a gem top to bottom . Even better than their first outing several years ago . Chock full of musical and spiritual nutrition . It should come as NO surprise whatsoever that radio country ” doesn’t relate to ” Emmy . Those are mostly kids songs that most KIDS can’t even relate to lyrically .
September 27, 2015 @ 9:12 pm
Who’s that Sturgill feller?
September 29, 2015 @ 7:31 am
Sturgill Simpson, your world is about to be blown up when you hear him.
September 27, 2015 @ 9:53 pm
This quote of hers from 2011 still applies, “I”™m nowhere with country music. I don”™t hear much of it, so I shouldn”™t venture an opinion, but when it finds me, it seems formulaic. I don”™t hear anyone who moves me like George Jones or Bill Monroe. The country that you hear on the radio, it feels poppy but without the originality of pop.”
Here! Here! WITHOUT THE ORIGINALITY OF POP.
http://www.headbutler.com/reviews/emmylou-harris-hard-bargain/
September 27, 2015 @ 10:04 pm
I think Emmylou is one of the most overrated traditionalists around, but I wholeheartedly agree with her.
September 28, 2015 @ 3:20 am
See, this is the thing with these country poets, “washed in the blood” means nothing, it just sounds good. It sounds.. familiar? It sounds like something you’d expect a traditionalist to say. But it means nothing.
Pop Country sucks not because it’s popular, but because it’s derivative and aspires to be popular with no attention paid to whether it’s actually good. Songwriting by checklist is corny. Skoal Ring, check. Name drop a legend, check. Bonfire, check.
All the best artists in any genre ever wrote songs for themselves. Becoming popular was a by-product.
September 28, 2015 @ 5:55 am
I’d like to offer my thoughts on where Emmylou, or her friend as it says in the article got the phrase “washed in the blood.” First off I am NOT trying to start a theological debate. “Washed in the blood” is a term that is used a lot in Southern Christian churches. It refers to the belief that when you are “saved” your soul is “washed in the blood of Jesus.” There is even a traditional hymnal called “Are You Washed In the Blood of the Lamb.”
I think that when her friend referred to this phrase, it probably originated from the saying used in churches. Emmylou being from the South probably has a lot of Southern friends and may even be familiar with this expression herself. My thoughts on what he would mean by using this expression is that modern country is not born out of real emotion but more of a desire to party and sell song downloads. I think it’s an incredible way to describe the state of the current quality of songs which make it on to the radio.
Again, I AM NOT TRYING TO START A THEOLOGICAL DEBATE. These are simply my thoughts on where this phrase may have originated and what Emmylou’s friend may have meant by it. Would love to hear all other thoughts as well.
September 28, 2015 @ 8:53 am
” My thoughts on what he would mean by using this expression is that modern country is not born out of real emotion but more of a desire to party and sell song downloads. I think it”™s an incredible way to describe the state of the current quality of songs which make it on to the radio.”
I thought the same thing.
September 28, 2015 @ 9:05 am
AMEN ….errrr …I thought the same thing too . I thought it meant that the newer radio pop country wasn’t ” touched” by anything real or traditional ….it had no integrity .
September 28, 2015 @ 12:00 pm
I thought she got the term from Woody Guthrie, “Blood of the Lamb”, which no doubt is a version of the hymnal. Country artists have been reaching to gospel roots since country music began… don’t think it must necessarily refer to the Southern expression.
September 28, 2015 @ 7:09 pm
Dude I get it. I’ve heard the term.. got some serious evangelical Southern Baptists in my family. My point is the phrase means nothing as it relates to country music. It’s a corny statement. It’s like saying.. uhh.. the new Dodge Charger isn’t washed in the blood because it’s so radically different/bigger/worse than the original. It’s a misplaced term.
September 29, 2015 @ 6:09 am
I’m not sure about that analogy, dude.
September 29, 2015 @ 6:40 am
That’s a weak analogy. And no, the term in question is not misplaced. It is a reference to a country gospel song. It’s a poetic way to say that much of mainstream country music is soulless.
September 28, 2015 @ 6:21 am
“washed in the blood” means nothing, it just sounds good.
It means something to me. I’m familiar with the term through the old country gospel song called “Are You Washed in the Blood?”, which I know through a cover done by Ralph Stanley. Apparently, Alan Jackson has covered it as well. I took Emmylou’s reference to mean that mainstream country music has veered far from its country roots and doesn’t have much heart.
Pop Country sucks not because it”™s popular
I don’t think Emmylou made that point. I think she was wondering if mainstream country started getting super popular after it started going south artistically. You know, derivative. It would be odd if she shunned certain types of music just because it was popular given the significant mainstream success she had in the mid ’70s through early ’80s (Seven gold albums, 20 top ten US Country hits).
September 28, 2015 @ 7:12 am
Her take is spot on. ” I long for [artists like] Waylon Jennings.” I could not describe my feelings any better. There are glimmers of hope but so far even when an artist releases the perfect album it has not been followed up with another. The amount of solid albums Waylon had back to back to back to back (basically the entire 70s and first couple years of the 80s) I’ve come to fear will never be duplicated because that was a once a generation or multi-generations artist… but I sure hope I’m wrong.
September 28, 2015 @ 6:13 am
I love Emmylou and have been a huge fan for years. Her and Rodney Crowell recently played Dublin Ireland I missed them by a couple of weeks and was very dissapointed . I would have loved to have seen them. I agree country music with a few exceptions is terrible to day. Even some of my all time favorites like Reba Macyintrye have gone over to this so called country music. This year the Country Music Awards should have been called the Rock and Roll Awards. It was terrible. I especially thought the tribute to a legend like Glen Campbell was a disgrace. It lasted no more than 2 minutes. For such a huge talent for decades they should be ashamed of themselves.I grew up on Country Music and had the pleasure of meeting George Jones, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Faron Young in their very early days and followed them for decades as I have with Emmylou Harris.They preform country the way it should be preformed. The words George Jones and Allan Jackson sang ” A crime was commited down on country row ” Is right on the money.
September 28, 2015 @ 6:28 am
Bang, she hit it right on the head: today’s “evolved” country music simply has nothing to relate to, unless one’s life revolves around partying until you puke and trying to nail underage girls. The artists that are so cavalierly dismissed by the “mainstream” are the artists writing songs that people can actually connect to.
September 28, 2015 @ 6:41 am
Modern Country music has a crap ton of problems, but I still think a large portion of it is the lack of diverse songwriters getting their music recorded. You look up and down the Country chart and all you see is the same freaking names attached to just about every song. It is honestly starting to border on the Brill Building of the 50’s where they just pumped out generic Pop songs with generic artists.
The same 6-8 songwriters are being used on each and every Country song right now and that to me is really hurting the genre a ton.
September 28, 2015 @ 8:34 am
Two years ago Zac Brown made that exact point. Now he’s part of the problem.
September 28, 2015 @ 8:46 am
Agreed, everyone has pretty much sold out. Honestly the most refreshing thing about the new George Strait album (though I admit I haven’t listened to it fully due to the Wal-Mart/Apple exclusivity) is the fact you see people like Dean Dillon getting some album cuts. I can’t remember the last time I heard a good Rivers Rutherford album cut, much less single on the radio. Lots of super talented songwriters who love and respect the genre have been forced out by pop songwriters like Luke Laird or bro-Country d-bags like Dallas Davidson and Rhett Akins and are getting ALL the songwriting credits lately.
September 28, 2015 @ 7:14 am
Her take is spot on. ” I long for [artists like] Waylon Jennings.” I could not describe my feelings any better. There are glimmers of hope but so far even when an artist releases the perfect album it has not been followed up with another. The amount of solid albums Waylon had back to back to back to back (basically the entire 70s and first couple years of the 80s) I’ve come to fear will never be duplicated because that was a once a generation or multi-generations artist… but I sure hope I’m wrong.
September 28, 2015 @ 7:17 am
Bro-country and metro-bro are washed in douchebag and the rust of unplayed steel guitars.
September 28, 2015 @ 8:33 am
First, let me add that Emmylou Harris got her start as a performer at one of the most interesting music venues I know – Horse Pens 40 in rural Alabama. It’s a place that I’d recommend visiting, for a concert or otherwise – natural rock formations that were a meeting ground for native cultures. One might be surprised at how many “big” names played there back in the day.
R. Stapleton
September 28, 2015 @ 5:31 pm
“the same 6 to 8 songwriters are being used on each and every country song” so true.
A lot of the problem is these writers don’t have any life experience to use in their songs. Look at Kris,Merle,Willie,Billy Joe, Mel Tillis, Roger Miller, Jones, Paycheck, Waylon, Cash, and so many
more from the past. They had tasted life, right or wrong, and they were able to put that in their
music. So Cash didn’t shoot a man just to watch him die, but he had the talent and imagination,
to write a song that has stood the test of time. I can’t see something like, “chew tobacco spit”
lasting that long.
September 28, 2015 @ 8:43 pm
I’ve had to wonder if the popularity of some rap and bro- country these days isn’t another syptom of a society that’s lost it’s fucking mind.everything around us has been dumbed down to sell to the masses and it shows.its left us a shallow selfish greedy society that is easy for the corporations to market their product to.I personally believe Jamey Johnson is the saviour of traditional country but sturgill has all the attention.