March 24, 2007
Emmylou Harris with John Starling & Carolina Star
What a splendid evening we had at Friday night's concert by musical superstar Emmylou Harris and her colleagues John Starling and Carolina Star in Houston's Jones Hall.
The event was billed as part of the American Expressions series of the Houston Symphony, but our hometown orchestra was nowhere to be found. The Jones Hall stage was just a simple set filled with the acoustic instruments of Emmylou and the band.
She was in fine form, still beautiful after all these years and vocally strong. The two-part set was a mixture of bluegrass and traditional songs, plus a generous selection of Emmylou's hits from past years. There were lots of similarities to her memorable 1992 Live at the Ryman recording with the Nash Ramblers.
John Starling and Carolina Star are in fact a reincarnation of the legendary Seldom Scene, famed 70s bluegrass revival pioneers, so they were soulful virtuosos.
An article last fall from the Washington Post tells the story of how these old friends came to reunite on the stage.
For the audience, it was like sittin' in around their living room: cozy, relaxed, conversational, friendly. As a longtime fan, now for more thirty years, it was, in a word, magical.
Recommended:
• Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler - Real Live Roadrunning - CD/DVD (2006)
• John Starling and Carolina Star - Slidin' Home (2007)