Gig review: Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Glasgow

EMMYLOU Harris and Rodney Crowell have been collaborators since he joined her Hot Band in 1975, but it is only with the release of their duets album, Old Yellow Moon, that they have formalised their double act and ostensibly share the billing on this tour.

Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

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In practice, Harris is still the main draw, however. Too bad if you were partial to the Gram Parsons melody on Love Hurts, as Harris’s harmony dominated the song which got her “hooked on sad”. Crowell got his memory lane moment on Till I Gain Control Again, the first song he ever played for Harris, but the pair blended soulfully on The Louvin Brothers’ The Angels Rejoiced Last Night.

Their partnership, as with the entire band dynamic, was easy and understated – too easy at times. It was hard to get excited by mid-paced middle-of-the-road Seventies country fare such as I’ll Be Your San Antonio Rose, but the intimate lullaby feel of Rock Of My Soul, low, plangent twang of Heaven Only Knows and skiffly country rocker Luxury Liner, with deft, lightning solo from Jedd Hughes, helped to sound a more inspiring note.

It was a bumper set, but its value might have increased with the excision of some sleepy material in the second half and more of the attitude evident in the encore rendition of Stars On The Water, while the addition of Crowell’s Glasgow Girl was a lovely crowd-pleasing moment.