Music and Opera

What more is there to say? Precious little. So here is Emmylou Harris with one of her great Gram-related songs Together Again, performed here at what must be thought one of the greatest ever Old Grey Whistle Test sessions:

He’s been back with us for a while now after his troubles, but it’s still worth cherishing Steve Earle. And he should also be honoured for his work spreading the good word about Townes. Here he is with TVZ’s most famous song:

Townes van Zandt and Johnny Cash are dead but, man, I wanna see the Hagg play live before either of us dies. In the meantime the one fever it’s ok to have is that ol’ Ramblin’ Fever…

My word, that Ozark twang is something magnificent...Sweet is the Melody indeed. I’m inclined to think Iris could be Emmylou’s successor. If, that is, she wants or wanted to be. I hope she does.

Country music ain’t always about cowboys and outlaws; there’s the distaff side of strong and righteous ladies too. Notably, in this instance, Loretta Lynn and her warning that You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)…

There was almost as much hackery as brilliance in Johnny Cash’s career and even his terrific late American albums are pretty uneven. But when he was good he was very good…So here he is lamenting – or celebrating? – those old Folsom Prison Blues...

I’ve been listening to George Jones a lot, lately. So here’s video of a younger Possum singing, in his usual style, Things Have Gonel to Pieces which is, I suppose, a decent-enough summary of an entire school of country music.

Been a long time since this pair featured in this slot. Too long. So here they are performing their already-classic I Want to Sing That Rock’n’Roll at St Luke’s in London a few years ago: Bonus: There’s another, perhaps even better but sadly unembeddable version, here.

Taking Sophocles’ least-known play and reinterpreting via the hymns and songs of gospel music is, damn it, just the sort of thing that you expect from Edinburgh* in August. Thankfully, Lee Breuer’s plundering – adaptation is too limited a term – of Oedipus at Colonus is a monumental success. If you ever get the chance to see it in London, New York, DC, Chicago or wherever then for god’s sake get yourself a ticket. Most of the reviews of the Gospel at Colonus have focused, understandably, on the music and, unavoidably, on the tensions between Christian and classical Greek theology and you can certainly argue that the production loses some

Hands-up if you think Willie Nelson and Lucinda Williams are a good combination? That’s most of you, eh? Good. Well here they are with a very Nelsonesque take on Williams’s Over Time:

You can never have too much Emmylou and her appearance, backed by the brilliant Hot Band, on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977 is a joy from start to finish. Here she is with Making Believe – a Jimmy Work song that had previously been a hit for the great Kitty Wells too.