A Shelter Inside the Song: Linda Ronstadt Made Randy Newman’s “Feels Like Home” the Heart of Her 1995 Album
In Linda Ronstadt’s hands, Randy Newman’s “Feels Like Home” became less a love song than...
Melody Era
When Love Turns to Smoke: Emmylou Harris Recasts Rodney Crowell’s Ashes by Now on 1981’s Evangeline
In Emmylou Harris’s hands, Rodney Crowell’s Ashes by Now stops being only a breakup song...
Two Voices, One Old Wound: Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton’s Luxury Liner “When I Stop Dreaming”
In Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton’s Luxury Liner duet, a Louvin Brothers standard becomes a...
A Familiar Refrain Got Company: John Fogerty’s Garden Party with Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit
On John Fogerty’s Garden Party, a song about pleasing yourself becomes warmer, wiser, and more...
A Question at the Exit: The Partridge Family’s Mark James-Penned “Where Do We Go From Here” on Bulletin Board
At the edge of the Partridge Family’s run, a polished pop song asked the one...
Two Voices Refuse to Hurry: Linda Ronstadt and Ann Savoy’s Go Away From My Window on 2006’s Adieu False Heart
On Adieu False Heart, Linda Ronstadt and Ann Savoy turn Go Away From My Window...
One Last Hunger in Neil Diamond’s One More Bite of the Apple, a 2008 Rick Rubin-Produced Home Before Dark Cut
On Home Before Dark, Neil Diamond let late-career hunger breathe without disguise, and One More...
A Softer Storm Emerged When Neil Diamond Covered Randy Newman’s I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today on 1971’s Stones
In Neil Diamond’s 1971 hands, Randy Newman’s rain became less ironic and more openly human,...
Caught Between Two Voices: Bee Gees’ “Please Don’t Turn Out the Lights” on To Whom It May Concern
In “Please Don’t Turn Out the Lights”, the Bee Gees sound caught in a tender...
Maurice Gibb Takes the Helm on Bee Gees’ Trafalgar, the 1971 Title Track Built Like a Sea Epic
With Trafalgar, the Bee Gees turned naval history into pop drama, and Maurice Gibb stepped...
Josh Turner’s “Without Him” Makes I Serve a Savior Feel Less Like an Album and More Like a Prayer
In “Without Him”, Josh Turner does not try to modernize a gospel confession; he lets...
Josh Turner Stood Beside the Voice That Shaped Him in a Live On The Other Hand Duet with Randy Travis
A country standard became a handshake across generations when Josh Turner sang On The Other...
Restraint Cut Deep in Linda Ronstadt’s “Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry” on What’s New with Nelson Riddle
On What’s New, Linda Ronstadt turned a torch song into an act of restraint, letting...
Three Famous Voices, One Quiet Prayer: Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris Sing Farther Along on Trio
On Farther Along, three star voices step back until the harmony feels less like display...
A Sidekick Song With Teeth: Emmylou Harris’s “Rhythm Guitar” Drives The Ballad of Sally Rose
In Rhythm Guitar, Emmylou Harris lets the quiet instrument in the back line become the...
Emmylou Harris Took On the Radio Off the Dance Floor and Let White Shoes Turn It Inward
When Emmylou Harris sang On the Radio on White Shoes, a disco-era message song became...
One Harmony Widens the West: Emmylou Harris and John Denver’s 1983 “Wild Montana Skies”
In John Denver’s 1983 duet with Emmylou Harris, Wild Montana Skies becomes less a landscape...
Two Voices, One No. 1 Hope: Emmylou Harris and Earl Thomas Conley’s We Believe in Happy Endings
In 1988, two country voices met without trying to outshine each other, and a hopeful...
Only Two Songs Faced Forward: John Fogerty’s “Train of Fools” on Wrote a Song for Everyone
On an album crowded with familiar landmarks, John Fogerty’s “Train of Fools” mattered because it...
A Rougher Kind of Treasure: John Fogerty’s “The Holy Grail” With ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons
In John Fogerty’s 2018 standalone single, the search for treasure becomes a guitar conversation between...
A Comeback Opens in the Rain: David Cassidy’s “Raindrops” on Didn’t You Used to Be…
On “Raindrops,” David Cassidy begins a 1992 comeback not with bravado, but with the sound...
The Risk Inside David Cassidy’s Thin Ice, His Alan Tarney Co-Write from 1985’s European-Only Romance
On Thin Ice, David Cassidy did not simply step into the 1980s; he tested whether...
Linda Ronstadt Holds the Storm Back on I Keep It Hid from 1989’s Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind
On I Keep It Hid, Linda Ronstadt turns concealment into control, letting a Jimmy Webb...
A Soft Landing, Not a Finale: Linda Ronstadt Reimagined Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender” to Close Living in the USA
At the end of Living in the USA, Linda Ronstadt treated Elvis Presley’s Love Me...
The Soft 80s Ache Inside Neil Diamond’s 1986 “Me Beside You” with Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager
In a bright 1986 pop setting, Neil Diamond’s “Me Beside You” turns companionship into something...
Before Disco Claimed the Spotlight, Bee Gees’ “Heavy Breathing” on Mr. Natural Let the Funk Slip In
On “Heavy Breathing”, the Bee Gees sound less like a group chasing a new fashion...
Before Josh Turner Sang, Michael Buffer Turned Introduction Into Punching Bag’s First Bell
Before the first full song arrives, Josh Turner’s Punching Bag steps into the ring with...
Before the Breakthrough, Linda Ronstadt Closed Hand Sown… Home Grown with Fred Neil’s “The Dolphins”
At the close of her first solo album, Linda Ronstadt did not push for a...
The Glow Was Never Hers Alone: Emmylou Harris’s Light of the Stable and Its 1979 Harmony Circle
On Light of the Stable, Emmylou Harris turns Christmas music into a circle of voices,...
Three Voices Recast Neil Young’s Warning: Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt’s After the Gold Rush from Trio II
On Trio II, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt turned “After the Gold Rush”...