Emmylou Harris Spyboy (CD)

(New West Records) 19 tracks, digisleeve
“A good song can survive and shine in different ways in the hands of different musicians,” says Emmylou Harris. “It can have different meanings at different times in life. A good song can accompany you everywhere.” This philosophy has shaped her fifty-year music career, during which she has covered countless songs of various genres and left her unmistakable mark on each one.
The same philosophy inspired both Spyboy, her touring band of the late 1990s, and the 1998 live album of the same name, which impressively demonstrates how these musicians made their songs shine. By juxtaposing old and new songs, the album tests the resilience of each piece and takes them into wilder and more psychedelic realms without losing sight of down-to-earth country music. It is a truly unique work in her catalog, an important document of a significant chapter in her career, and is finally being re-released after years of unavailability. “It's such a special record,” she says. “Well, they're all special, but this one is really, really special. It was a fantastic band and an incredible time.”
Spyboy grew out of Harris' collaboration with producer Daniel Lanois on her groundbreaking 1995 album Wrecking Ball. That album, one of her best and most celebrated, offers a completely different idea of what country music could be, how it could sound and evolve. In 1996 and 1997, the band, also called Spyboy, toured America and Europe with Buddy Miller, Brady Blade, and Daryl Johnson, never playing a song the same way twice. Buddy Miller brought his recording equipment and recorded almost every concert on the tour. After the tour ended, Miller and Harris sat down together and selected the tracks that best represented Spyboy's ethos of infinite possibilities from hundreds of recordings.