Emmylou Harris & the Red Dirt Boys
Chastain Park Amphitheater, Atlanta, GA 6/27/2008

Lineage: Sony ECM-MS907 Microphone (Stereo) -> Sony MZ-R37 MiniDisc Recorder -> Sound Forge (analog capture) -> WAV -> FLAC 5

Taper: Robbit

1. Here I Am
2. Orphan Girl
3. Love and Happiness
4. Return of the Grievous Angel
5. Blue Kentucky Girl
6. Hold On
7. Sailing Round the Room
8. Red Dirt Girl
9. If I Could Only Win Your Love
10. Michaelangelo
11. Goodbye
12. Green Pastures
13. Born to Run
14. Band Introductions
15. Sweet Old World
16. Shores of White Sand
17. Take That Ride
18. Bang The Drum Slowly
19. The Pearl [small cut]
20. When We're Gone, Long Gone
21. Bright Morning Stars
22. Get Up John
23. Intermission
24. Together Again
25. Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight

Red Dirt Boys
Phil Madera - Keyboards, accordian, guitar
Colin Linden - Guitar, dobro, Banjo
Brian Owings - Drums
Chris Donahue - Bass
Rickie Simpkins - Fiddle / mandolin

Tapers Notes: This was the very first time I'd ever seen Emmylou Harris and quite possibly my first bluegrass show. I typically listen to 'heavier' music, but have recently fallen in love with the music of Gram Parsons. While researching Gram's music, it occurred to me that Emmylou has been the most faithful torch bearer of his music since he died in 1973. It only made sense that I should investigate Emmylou's music a bit more thoroughly and give her a harder listen. I made myself take a crash course in her music for two solid months, listening to each and every album that I could before the show. During this time, I fell for the understated beauty of her music and her knack for choosing the right songs to record. Gram's music was simply a spring board for Emmylou to explore many other great songwriters and even write some of her own great songs. I feel that she's possibly been overlooked by many people for the fact that she hasn't had one trademark single to launch any sort of crossover into more popular consciousness. I really adore her earlier records (LUXURY LINER & ELITE HOTEL), but also respect how she's grown as an artist since then. Her new record is especially good in my opinion!

Chastain Park Amphitheater is a small (6,900 capacity) open air venue in the middle of an affluent Atlanta suburb. For that reason, there is a local sound ordinance of about 90db, but this gentle music hardly posed much of a threat to sleeping yuppies that night. In fact, it was the first show I was able to leave out my earplugs for in quite some time. (Because of some moderate tinnitus in my left ear, I can't tolerate anything severely loud - thanks to an X show a few years ago...) I was positioned dead center approximately 20 rows back. There were a few people behind me, but the usual problem of chatter during the quite moments wasn't as bad as it can be at this venue. Some talking pollution is almost unavoidable when you have a show this mellow!
I came in just as Jimmy Gaudreau & Moondi Klein were finishing up their opening set. I watched Sam Bush's set, which was really impressive to me as a musician. He played some progressive bluegrass stuff that really required some ability! Emmylou made a surprise appearance during one song, which I regretfully did not record. She stood behind Sam in her sunglasses while she sang from a lyric sheet in her hand. I was impressed by her humility, as most headliners wouldn't dare appear before their own set started. It's really nice to see this sort of camaraderie between musicians instead of the usual petty competitiveness. (I do realize that Sam used to play in Emmylou's band in prior years.)

Emmylou played some very moving songs on this hot Atlanta evening. I especially enjoyed "Orphan Girl", "Return Of The Grievous Angel" (her nod to Gram Parsons), "Hold On" (my favorite song on the new record), "Take That Ride" (the runner-up for best new song) and "Born To Run". She gave a very nice introduction to "Bang That Drum Slowly", which was written for her late father. "Shores Of White Sand" was nice to hear, but less spirited than some of the other live renditions I'd heard her do recently. I almost got the impression that she's starting to tire of playing this one all the time.

She acknowledged her recent introduction into the Country Music Hall Of Fame during her introduction to "If Only I Could Win Your Love".

Quality wise, I'd consider it to be EX-, if only for the fact I was using a MiniDisc recorder and not DAT. The recording is very clear and has few if any glitches. I changed the microphone position once or twice during the show, which only served to improve the sound from the middle to the end of the show.
I really loved this show and hope that other Emmylou fans can find the same enjoyment that I did in hearing my recording. I've only seen one other recent show from this tour on Dime so far and that was from the previous night in Jacksonville. There are a few different songs played here that weren't done in Jacksonville ("Michaelangelo", "The Pearl" and "Bang The Drum Slowly") and vice versa. Enjoy!!

Note: Please be patient with the upload speed. I'm using DSL, so this might start out slowly until a few more seeders have it.