Roses in the Snow

by

Emmylou Harris

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In 1980 "country" music was going the way of "Lookin' for Love in All the Wrong Places" and "9 to 5". The old "country" sound of the 1960s and 1970s was giving way to a new "country" sound that would eventually produce Garth Brooks and ultimately make "country" the dominant music genre in the United States.

Emmylou Harris did not follow this trend, in fact she seems to have fled from it. In 1980 she and the band left the electric guitars at home and recorded an absolutely gorgeous acoustic country/bluegrass album. The road less travelled bore far more fruit than expected in this case. From the first ripping fiddle notes that open the title track the album takes you in with its sound, atmosphere and beauty. I first heard this album in headphones (I was at work and needed to filter out the usual nonsense going on around me), and was simply dumbstruck. Being relatively new to "country music" (I hate categorizing music) I wondered what I had been missing all these years. Now I know.

This album owes as much to folk and bluegrass as it does to country. Its sound is significantly different from Harris' previous album "Blue Kentucky Girl" which tends toward electrified country. The themes are sometimes heartbreakingly sorrowful ("Wayfaring Stranger", "You're Learning", "Miss the Mississippi and You"), sometimes religious ("Green Pastures", "Jordan"), sometimes hopeful ("The Darkest Hour is Just Before Dawn"). It is also easy to be skeptical about "country" covers of "rock" songs, so I was pleasantly surprised at the version of "The Boxer" which complements the other songs incredibly well. There are no duds on this album, only great and greater songs.

The CD booklet contains in-depth information on the making of the album, and it's place in the "country" genre of the time. We can all be happy that Emmylou Harris is not a follower.