Review Summary: A warmhearted, weary-sweet atmosphere and hints of the greatness to come on Wrecking Ball makes Cowgirl’s Prayer, if not end-to-end essential, one of Emmylou’s most consistently strong, innovative albums
The roaring success of Wrecking Ball tends to overshadow that of its predecessor, and usually for good reason. Wrecking Ball is, after all the very definition of a later-career masterpiece, while Cowgirl’s Prayer finds her in a bit more of a transitional period, stylistically speaking, still very much within the commercial country album idiom, but with a little more of an independent sensibility than she’d shown on previous album’s. After a few forays into various styles under the country music umbrella, with wildly varying levels of success, the stage seemed set for Emmylou to try something truly dramatic and risk-taking. It just wasn’t quite going to be Cowgirl’s Prayer, which itself features some of the strongest Emmylou tracks of her career up to this point, but which never really reaches towards the heights achieved on her classic followup.
More’s the pity, because Cowgirl’s Prayer is probably the strongest album she’d released at that point since Roses in the Snow. Emmylou’s doing what she does best here: spinning images of heartache and hope with all the heart and guts she’d done so effortlessly in her earlier career, but now tempered with a sense of world-weary experience, a bittersweetness that brings out the pathos and grit of all the best country music. The light rasp she’d acquired in the 80s, although less noticeable than it was on Angel Band, lends itself to that sense of maturity, giving the songs a kind of emotional heft that she hadn’t really come up with at any point in her career up til now.
Perhaps surprising, given that Harris has acknowledged that songwriting doesn’t come naturally to her, is that the two strongest tracks on the album are the ones penned by her. But then again, perhaps its that very quality that gives them their strength; in an interview for Reg Dirt Girl, one of only three albums she’s released that are made up of original tracks, she described the process as “bringing a pound of flesh to the album”. In the Light is a sparse, relatively brief ode to finding one’s salvation in love, Emmylou’s lilting voice over a simple guitar line and bare, chiming percussion. It’s also totally charming in its simplicity. Prayer in Open D takes a different track, a more traditional acoustic ballad taking a life’s regret as its theme with faith acting as the sole guide out of the darkness. The sardonic spoken-word Jerusalem Tomorrow is unique and entertaining enough to count itself a highlight, as well as the bluesy Thanks to You, both tracks that see Emmylou stepping into new styles with her usual confidence.
Where Cowgirl’s Prayer stumbles ever so slightly is when it retreads the ground Emmylou’s done better before, with You Don’t Know Me and Lovin’ You Again being serviceable enough traditional country tunes that end up bogging down the album. But, given this was the last of what could be described as Emmylou’s “commercial” albums, it is, at times, a surprisingly bold foray into a variety of moods and styles, giving more than a passing indication that Emmylou Harris was moving into the later stage of her career with both boldness and grace.
