This is the album debut of the Nashville Ramblers, her acoustic backing band featuring Sam Bush and Roy Huskey Jr, recorded over three nights in the former home of the Grand Ole Opry. Harris's choice of songs strikes a balance between hillbilly classics and folk-influenced rock, with Bill Monroe receiving heaviest tribute but sharing space with Tex Owens, Bruce Springsteen, and John Fogerty.
EMMYLOU HARRIS
AT THE RYMAN
(Reprise 26664)
January 10/1992
Produced by Allen Reynolds & Richard Bennett

Emmylou Harris - vocal/ac.guitar
Jon Randall Stewart - guitar/dobro/mandolin/vocals
Sam Bush - fiddle/mandolin/vocals
Roy Huskey, Victor Battista - bass/vocals
Larry Atamanuik - drums/percussion
Recorded live Apr 30 - May 2/1991, The Ryman Auditorium, Nashville
1.
GUITAR TOWN
(Steve Earle)
« © '86 Lorimar Music, ASCAP »
Hey sweet baby are you ready for me
It's your good rockin' mama down from Tennessee
I'm just out of Austin bound for San Antone
With the radio blastin' and the bird dog on
There's a speed trap up ahead in Selma town but no local yokel gonna shut me down
Cause me and my boys got this rig unwound
And we've come a thousand miles from a guitar town
[ guitar ]
Well nothin' ever happened round my hometown
And I ain't the kind to just hang around
But I heard someone callin' my name one day
And I followed that voice down the lost highway
Well everybody told me you can't get far on 37 dollars and a jap guitar
And a rockin' little combo from the guitar town
[ dobro ]
Hey pretty baby don't you know it ain't my fault
I like to hear the steel belts hummin' on the asphalt
Wake up in the middle of the night in a truck stop
Stumble in the restaurant wonderin' why I don't stop
Gotta keep rockin' while I still can I gotta two pack habit and a motel tan
But when my boots hit the boards I'm a brand new man
With my back to the riser I make my stand
Hey pretty baby won't you hold me tight
We're loadin' up and rollin' out of here tonight
Well one of these days I'm gonna settle down
And take you back with me to the guitar town
**********
2.
HALF AS MUCH
(Curley Williams)
« © '51 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
If you loved me half as much as I love you
You wouldn't worry me half as much as you do
You're nice to me when there's no one else around
You only build me up to let me down
If you missed me half as much as I miss you
You wouldn't stay away half as much as you do
I know that I would never be this blue
If you only loved me half as much as I love you
[ fiddle ]
Well if you loved me half as much as I love you
You wouldn't worry me half as much as you do
If you missed me half as much as I miss you
You wouldn't stay away half as much as you do
I know that I would never be this blue
If you only loved me half as much as I love you
If you only loved me half as much as I love you
**********
3.
CATTLE CALL
(Tex Owens)
« © '43 Forster Music, ASCAP »
The cattle are prowling the coyotes are howling out with the doggies bawl
Where spurs are jinglin' a cowboy is singin' this lonesome cattle call
He rides in the sun till his day's work is done and he rounds up the cattle each fall
Singin' this cattle call
[ dobro ]
For hours he will ride on the range far and wide
As the night wind blows up a squall
His heart is a feather in all kinds of weather he sings his cattle call
He's brown as a berry from riding the prairie and he sings with an old western drawl
Singin' this cattle call
**********
4.
GUESS THINGS HAPPEN THAT WAY
(Jack Clement)
« © '58 Songs Of PolyGram, BMI »
Well you ask me if I'll forget my baby I guess I will someday
I don't like it but I guess things happen that way
Well you ask me if I'll get along I guess I will someway
I don't like it but I guess things happen that way
Well God gave me that man to lean on then he put me on my own
Heaven help me be a strong and have the strenght to carry on
Well I don't like it but I guess things happen that way
You ask me if I'll miss her kisses I guess I will everyday
I don't like it but I guess things happen that way
Well you ask me if I'll find another I don't know I can't say
I don't like it but I guess things happen that way
Well God gave me that man to lean on...
I don't like it but I guess things happen that way
I don't like it but I guess things happen that way
**********
5.
HARD TIMES
(Stephen Foster)
« © '91 Writer Share, PD »
Let us pause in life's pleasures and count her many tears
While we all sup sorrow with the poor
There's a song that will linger forever in our ears
Oh hard times come again no more
It's a song the sigh of the weary hard times hard times come again no more
Many days you have lingered all around my door oh hard times come again no more
Though we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay
There are frail forms fainting at the door
Though their voices are silent their pleading looks will say
Oh hard times come again no more
It's a song...
There's a pale young maiden who foils her life away
With a worn out heart whose better days are o'er
Though her voice it would be singing it's sighing all the day
Oh hard times come again no more
It's a song...
Oh hard times come again no more
**********
6.
MANSION ON THE HILL
(Bruce Springsteen)
« © '91 Bruce Springsteen Music, ASCAP »
There's a place out on the edge of town sir rising above the factories and fields
Now ever since I was a child I can remember that mansion on the hill
In the day you can see the children playing
On a road that leads to those gates of hardened steel
Steel gates that completely surround sir that mansion on the hill
At night my daddy'd take me and we'd ride
Through the streets of a town so silent and still
Park on a back road along the highway signs sir look up at the mansion on the hill
[ fiddle ]
In the summer all the lights would shine
There'd be music playin' people laughin' all the time
Me and my brother we'd lie down in the tall cornfields sir
Sit and listen to the mansion on the hill
Tonight down here in Linden Town I watch the cars rushin' by home from the mill
There's a beautiful full moon rising above the mansion on the hill
**********
7.
SCOTLAND
(Bill Monroe)
« © '65 Unichappell Music, BMI »
[ instrumental ]
**********
8.
MONTANA COWGIRL
(Ray Park)
« © '92 Fiddletown Music, ASCAP / Happy Sack Music, ASCAP »
For many long years I've played a lone hand I rode my horse in many strange lands
Until one day I stopped for awhile for two blue eyes and a sunny smile
So howl away you old coyote I hear your sad and lonesome song
You're calling me back to old Montana back to those hills where I belong
[ banjo ]
One day I rode away from home I'm a traveling back and it won't be long
I'll see you again in a little while you're my darling sweet my welcome smile
So howl away you old coyote...
[ guitar - fiddle ]
So howl away you old coyote...
**********
9.
LIKE STRANGERS
(Boudleaux Bryant)
« © '80 House Of Bryant, BMI »
Like strangers that's what we are darling how can lovers pull apart so far
Like strangers how can it be only days ago we loved so tenderly
I love you truly I do and I hope deep in your heart you love me too
Let's forget that we've been angry let's be lovers like before
And swear not to be like strangers anymore
[ guitar ]
Like strangers that's what we are...
Let's forget that we've been angry...
**********
10.
LODI
(John C. Fogerty)
« © '69 Jondora Music, BMI »
Just about a year ago I sat out on the road
Seeking my fame and fortune looking for a pot of gold
Things got bad and things got worse I guess you know the tune
Oh Lord stuck in Lodi again
Came in on the Greyhound I'll be walking out if I go
I was just passin' through must been seven months or more
Ran out of time and money it looks like they took my friends
Oh Lord stuck in Lodi again
[ mandolin - dobro ]
Well the man from the magazine he said I was on my way
Somewhere I lost connection and ran out of songs to play
I came into town a one night stand it looks like my plans fell through
Oh Lord stuck in Lodi again
Well if I only had a dollar for every song I've sung
Every time I've had to play while people sat there drunk
You know I'd catch the next train back to where I lived
Oh Lord stuck in Lodi again
Oh Lord stuck in Lodi again oh Lord stuck in Lodi again
**********
11.
CALLING MY CHILDREN HOME
(Jamie O'Hara - Doyle Lawson - Charlie Waller)
« © '78 Fauquier Music, BMI / Zap Publishing, BMI »
Those lives were mine to love and cherish to guard and guide along life's way
Oh God forbid that one should perish that one alas should go astray
Back in the years with all together around the place we'd romp and play
So lonely now and oft times wonder oh will they come back home some day
I'm lonesome for my precious children they live so far away
Oh may they hear my calling calling and come back home some day
I gave my all for my dear children their problems still with love I share
I'd brave life's storm defy the tempest to bring them home from anywhere
I lived my life my love I gave them to guide them through this world of strife
I hope and pray we'll live together in that great glad here after life
I'm lonesome for...
**********
12.
IF I COULD BE THERE
(Jamie O'Hara - Kieran Kane)
« © '88 Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP »
If I could be there I'd be there tonight comforting you
This road I'm on is so far away too far away
If God would grant me wings to fly I'd be in your arms by and by
If I could be there I'd be there tonight comforting you
[ mandolin ]
If I could be there I'd look in your eyes and say I love you
These hills and highways between us now keep us apart
If God would grant me wings to fly I'd be in your arms by and by
If I could be there I'd look in your eyes and say I love you
[ fiddle ]
If I could be there I wouldn't have this pain in my heart
Tomorrow I'll wake up with joy for the day joy for the day
If God would grant me wings to fly I'd be in your arms by and by
If I could be there I wouldn't have this pain in my heart
If I could be there
**********
13.
WALLS OF TIME
(Bill Monroe - Peter Rowan)
« © '68 Bill Monroe Music, BMI »
The wind is blowing across the mountain down on the valley way below
It sweeps the grave of my darling when I die that's where I want to go
Lord send the angels for my darling and take him to that home on high
I'll wait my time out here on earth love and come to you when I die
[ dobro ]
I hear a voice out in the darkness it moans and whispers through the pines
I know it's my sweetheart a calling I hear him through the walls of time
Lord send the angels for my darling...
[ guitar ]
Our names are carved upon a tombstone I promised you before you died
Our love would bloom forever darling when we rest side by side
Lord send the angels for my darling...
**********
14.
GET UP JOHN
(Bill Monroe)
« © '65 Unichappell Music, BMI »
Well get up John go down to Jordan get up John prepare the way
Man from Galilee is waitin' you must meet him there today
Get up John go tell my people this will be a Holy day
Tell them of the Jew that's waiting that the Saviour's on the way
John you've been chosen John go unafraid
John I'll go with you John The Baptist this is the day
[ mandolin ]
Well get up John go tell Jerusalem Saviour's waiting on the shore
Baptize Him in the River Jordan I'll send a dove from Heaven's door
John you've been chosen...
[ mandolin ]
Well get up John your work is finished daylight breaks the soldiers come
You will die for me tomorrow welcome home your race is run
John you've been chosen...
**********
15. Medley:
IT'S A HARD LIFE WHEREVER YOU GO
(Nancy Griffith)
« © '89 Irving Music, BMI / Ponder Heart Music, BMI »
I am a backseat driver from america they drive to the left on falls road
And the man at the wheels name is Shamus
We pass a the child on a corner he knows
And shamus says now what chance has that kid got
And I say from the back I don't know
He says there's barbed wire at all of these exits
There ain't no place in Belfast for that kid to go
And it's a hard life it's a hard life it's a very hard life it's a hard life wherever you go
And we poison our children with hatred and the hard life is all that they know
[ fiddle ]
At the dairyline in Chicago a fat man in front of me
He's calling black people trash to his children he's the only trash here I see
And I'm thinking this man wears a white hood
In the night when his children should sleep
But they'll slip to their windows and see him
They'll think that white hood's all they need
And it's a hard life...
[ mandolin ]
I was a child of the sixties when dreams could be held through tears
With Disney and Cronkite and Martin Luther and I belived I believed I believed
Now I'm a backseat driver from America And I'm not at the wheel of control
And I am guilty I am worn I am the root of all evil
And I can't drive on the left side of the road
And it's a hard life...
And there ain't no place in this world for these kids to go
Cause it's a hard life wherever you go
********
ABRAHAM MARTIN AND JOHN
(Dick Holler)
« © '91 Regent Music, BMI »
Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham Can you tell me where he's gone
He freed a lotta people but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone
Has anybody here seen my old friend Martin can you tell me where he's gone
He freed a lotta people but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone
Has anybody here seen my old friend John can you tell me where he's gone
He freed a lotta people but it seems the good die young
I just looked around and he's gone
Didn't you love the things they stood for
Didn't they try to find some good in you and me and we'll be free
Someday soon it's gonna be one day
Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby can you tell me where he's gone
I thought I saw him walking up over the hill with Abraham and Martin and John
******
16.
SMOKE ALONG THE TRACK
(Alan Rose - Don Helms)
« © '59 Sure-Fire Music, BMI »
One day the train was passin' a coalin' crawlin' by
To look this old world over under God blue sky
My darling stood there weeping as I was looking back
I kissed my baby cryin' in the smoke along the track
Goodbye so long until I come back home you'll be my dream
Goodbye so long there's lots of places that I've never seen
I'll always be a drifter but I'll be driftin' back
To where I left you cryin' in the smoke along the track
I like to keep on goin' it helps me when I'm blue
I get the urge to travel that's all I want to do
I know I just can't settle down because I like to roam
And when I hear that whistle blow I've gotta move along
Goodbye so long there's something down the track keeps calling me
Goodbye so long I guess that's just the way I'll always be
So when I get that feeling don't try to hold me back
I'll only leave you cryin' in the smoke along the track
[ fiddle - guitar ]
I know my baby loves me I love my baby too
But he don't understand me when I'm feeling blue
And when I hear that whistle blow I hurry home and pack
And leave my baby cryin' in the smoke along the track
Goodbye so long I hate to leave you but I've gotta go
Goodbye so long it's coming now just heard the whistle blow
It'll be here in a man that you wave and all look back
I'm gonna leave you cryin' in the smoke along the track
Goodbye so long until I come back home you'll be my dream...
Oh I left you cryin' in the smoke along the track
**********