Review Summary: Emmylou continues her return-to-roots approach, with moderately less success that on her previous album
Thirteen’s ended up being one of the more neglected albums from this period in Emmylou Harris’ career, perhaps unjustly so. Like Evangeline, it soon went out of print and was never reissued. Unlike Evangeline it featured some of Harris’ strongest performances of this period in her career. By continuing in the vein tapped by The Ballad of Sally Rose the previous year, relying on trad-country style and warm, earthy production, Thirteen is a collection of songs that hold their own quite well in Emmylou’s discography, due at least in part to the production work courtesy of her then-husband Paul Kemmerling, who’d co-written and produced Sally Rose the previous year. Most of the slick 80s sheen has finally been purged from the production in favor of a warmer, more intimate production style that eschews most of the drum reverb and synths that had plagued other albums of the decade, and the song selection is a step up from the likes of White Shoes.
While it can’t boast the narrative or musical cohesion of The Ballad of Sally Rose, and while it features several weaker tracks compared to that album, it also features some of the most affecting moments of Emmylou’s discography. The clear standout on the album is the deeply moving Springsteen cover My Father’s House, a spare, intimate number that relies solely on the guitar, some subtle, well-placed synth work to create something like a church-organ effect, and Emmylou’s voice at its most plaintive and melancholy. It’s one of the most heartache-inducing numbers in her discography and a testament to the power of her voice and the fact that it shines the brightest with only the sparest backing behind it. That it should be followed with the light, accordion-led dance number Lacassine Special works surprisingly in the album’s favor, the whiplash in mood keeping things from getting morassed in sappiness and providing a breath of fresh air. The rest of the album continues much in the same vein, a couple of solid ballads and a decent mid-paced number wrapped up with the tender Gospel-tinged Doc Watson cover Your Long Journey, a more than fitting end to what is a surprisingly fresh take on Emmylou’s sound, given the album’s less than stellar reputation.
Ultimately the biggest knock against the album is that its bright spots outshine the rest of the tracks so completely as to make them forgettable in comparison. Sweetheart of the Pines, the other standout moment on the album, also ends up in the Emmylou pantheon of all time greatest songs, but the rest of the tracks are, for the most part just ok to good. Where Sally Rose's success was due in part to the fact that everything just flowed together so well, Thirteen can't boast of having that sense of unity. While Thirteen may hold claim to being the most underrated Emmylou Harris album, and well-worth listening to, the standout cuts may end up being the only things worth revisiting for all but hardcore Harris fans.
