Something old, new, borrowed and blue were among the ingredients as these two grand dames of American folk-rock launched their first-ever joint tour in front of some 4,000 fans in an outdoor amphitheater.
Old: Songs going back more than 25 years from their respective solo careers, including Ronstadt’s rendition of Buddy Holly’s “It Doesn’t Matter Any More” and Harris’s cover of Gram Parsons’ “Wheels.”
New: All 13 songs off their new record, Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions.
Borrowed: Several songs by Canada’s McGarrigle sisters, as well as numbers by Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen and Linda Thompson.
Blue: The jeans both performers wore, as well as the turquoise tuxedo jacket worn by guitarist Buddy Miller (it was his birthday), on a casual, almost intimate evening filled with song.
It was an inspired wedding of two distinguished careers. Ronstadt and Harris have been friends for more than 25 years, ever since then country-rock goddess Ronstadt took Emmylou under her wing in 1973 following the death of her mentor Gram Parsons. They have both contributed backing vocals to tracks on each other’s albums over the years, and teamed up with Dolly Parton for two Trio albums — one in 1986 and another earlier this year. But they’ve before never done a full album of duets and never toured together. The record and tour were an excuse to spend some quality time together, Harris said, only half-jokingly.
They recruited a band of solid sessionmen for the record and then — something that rarely happens — went on the road with the same band. And what a band of multi-instrumental talent: Miller, Greg Leisz and ex-Eagle Bernie Leadon all played electric and acoustic guitars, and shared duties on bass, mandolin, mandocello, lap and pedal steel and banjo; Englishman Paul “Wix” Wickens played keyboards and accordion with understated precision, and filled in on bass; and a young Ethan Johns mostly played drums but occasionally took up the bass and electric guitar.
The ensemble played 30 songs in a two-part set that lasted nearly three hours. Things went most smoothly on the Western Wall songs; understandably so, since they all played on the recording. This was the first full concert of the tour, and as Ronstadt explained, they were doing several of the older numbers with only one or two rehearsals, so there were a few bobbles. But like the professionals they all are, nobody got rattled, and it all hung together in that tight but loose way that’s the hallmark of a good band.
The concert opened with the first three numbers from Western Wall: “Loving the Highway Man,” Jackson Browne’s “For a Dancer” and a new song by Harris, “Raise the Dead.” The latter, a look back over her career and an ode to some of her musical idols — Sam Cooke, Hank Williams, Bill Monroe and Robert Johnson — is one of the strongest of the album and the concert.
The two singers spent the rest of the evening trading leads and solos: Ronstadt on “Icy Blue Heart,” “Blue Train,” “It Doesn’t Matter Any More,” “He Was Mine;” Harris on Patti Scialfa’s “Valerie,” David Olney’s “1917,” the folk standard Troubles and Trials,” and Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl” from Harris’s Wrecking Ball. A high point of the first set was Linda Thompson’s “Telling Me Lies” from the first Trio album. The first half closed with a rollicking rendition of “John the Baptist” by Harris and Bill Monroe, complete with Miller’s fieriest solo of the night.
The second set included Cohen’s “Sisters of Mercy,” and “Sweet Spot,” a clever love song with a Bo-Diddly beat, which Harris co-wrote with Jill Cunniff. The two did a goosebump-raising duet on Harris’ “Hello Stranger,” followed by three more from the new album, including the title track “The Western Wall” by Rosanne Cash, Sinead O’Connor’s “This Is To Mother You” and Patty Griffin’s “Falling Down.”
Harris soloed on “Back to Harlem,” “Wheels” and “Rose of Cimarron,” and Ronstadt on two McGarrigle tunes, “Heart Like a Wheel” and “Come with Me,” as well as Randy Newman’s “Feels Like Home.” Rounding out the set were a Harris concert standard, “I Was Born to Run,” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Across the Border.” A single-song encore, “High Sierra” from the second Trio, left the crowd satisfied but still hoping for more.
