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Heartaches and Highways - The Very Best of Emmylou Harris

No matter who you are or what your musical inclination may be, you simply have to respect Emmylou Harris. She has been a fixture of American music for more than three decades, and her body of work has become a virtual cornerstone of everything that is “American”. More than a dozen solo albums, plus numerous side projects and collaborations leave a body of work that is just too huge to compile on one CD. A true overview would require much more than one disk, but if you are looking for a concise collection that captures the spirit and essence of her life’s work, then this is it. “Heartaches and Highways” stretches the full length of Harris’ career, from her days of singing harmony with Gram Parsons (“Love Hurts”) to a new recording featured exclusively on this disk (“The Connection”).

As it should be, the emphasis here is on Emmylou Harris’ singing, but the caliber of her backing musicians over the years is second to none. Her choice of material has been equally outstanding, featuring legendary writers such as Townes Van Zandt (“Pancho and Lefty”), Delbert McClinton (“Two More Bottles of Wine”), and Gillian Welch (“Orphan Girl”), not to mention a few classics from her own pen (“Boulder to Birmingham”, “Michelangelo”). A few more uptempo songs would have been a welcome addition, but I can understand their absence, since virtually everything included here is indispensable. Spanning over thirty years, it is interesting to hear as she progresses from the crystalline tone and perfect sense of harmony of her early recordings toward the textural and emotive resonance of her latest work. “Heartaches and Highways” might only scratch the surface, but it is enough to prove that Emmylou Harris is a national treasure.