This gem of an album opens with the most moving song A Ways To Go, a deeply spiritual number with a gripping melody. The Light, a slow, sad love song with an ultimate message of hope, follows it. Then on to High Powered Love, a brilliant blend of witty lyrics and vocal passion and You Don't Know Me, an achingly beautiful number that sounds almost devotional in its tenderness. This one reminds me of one of Joan Baez's early folk songs, Lady Mary, on one of her 1960s albums.
Prayer In Open D, one of Harris' own compositions, is a spiritual masterpiece exploring the dark valleys of the soul, but with a comforting undertone of mercy and redemption. Sort of like a more intellectual Green Pastures (on Roses In The Snow), it is real gooseflesh stuff. Emmylou gives Lucinda Williams' Crescent City a splendid, lilting treatment to create a fuller, more evocative sound without sacrificing the original's poignant mood of yearning and nostalgia.
Another brilliant story song is Lovin' You Again with its captivating plot and authentic emotion, a mature and poetic love ballad. In the spoken track Jerusalem Tomorrow, Emmylou narrates a powerful and wistful tale over moody, atmospheric music. This unusual number proves that her talking is as appealing as her singing. Thanks To You has a jerky rhythm and a bluesy feel, whilst I Hear A Call is a soulful song of transcendence, one of my favourites on Cowgirl's Prayer. The playing and arrangement are sheer genius as they perfectly carry and frame her vocals.
Her haunting version of Ballad Of A Runaway Horse shows what a sympathetic interpreter of Leonard Cohen she can be. I wish Emmylou would do it more often. The inflections of her voice and her phrasing are just perfect for Cohen's music. On her Western Wall: Tucson Sessions album with Linda Ronstadt, there is a lovely version of Sisters Of Mercy.
The style on Cowgirl's Prayer is mostly traditional country as this album predates the innovative Wrecking Ball, but this is consistently captivating music, memorable and lovingly performed. It explores a wide spectrum of situations and emotions in songs of wisdom and depth. I would rate this album slightly below Wrecking Ball, Red Dirt Girl and Stumble Into Grace, but it still deserves five stars. All the music of Emmylou Harris just improves with time.
