By Tom Roland
Published December 14, 2005
Greeting cards sell in abundance during December, as many use the holiday as a means to reconnect with people from their past.
In that spirit, Emmylou Harris reconnected with a seasonal album from her own past Monday at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, but the show touched on deeper connections at multiple levels.
Her "Light of the Stable" album appeared in 1980, and it still ranks high among Christmas packages thanks to its sweet harmonies and austere beauty. Several songs from the album formed the backbone of the show, which she laughingly noted was a bit antithetical to the tone generally ascribed to the holidays.
"It's a Christmas festive season," she observed, "and most of my material is depressing stuff."
Actually, Harris never quite ventured into depressing territory, though she did touch on dark matters in a way that ultimately proved uplifting. Appearing on a stage ringed with chrysanthemums and small gold holiday lights, she dropped a trilogy of songs from the "Stable" album -- "Christmas Time's A-Coming," "The First Noel" and the title track -- into the middle of a 23-song set that embraced ramblers, criminals, lost souls and dreamers.
Inevitably, all of the material hinged on connection: the desire for it in "If I Could Only Win Your Love," the lack of it in "Orphan Girl" and the ultimate attainment of it in "The Other Side of Life." The most pathetic characters -- those Harris would call depressing -- were the ones who somehow botched their chances at connecting: the criminals in Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho and Lefty" separated by betrayal and Lillian, the woman in "Red Dirt Girl," who never quite reached real intimacy with her husband and died tragically at age 27, leaving five kids to struggle in their own search for connection.
The darkness that she played with actually proved emotionally enlightening, in part because of Harris' own connection with the songs. Her wide vibrato conveyed a shimmering earthiness, and she sorted through the ups and downs of the characters with a nonjudgmental empathy.
Backed by guitarist Buddy Miller (whose eight-song opening set was just as emotionally engaging) and bass player Byron House, Harris delivered much of the material with elegantly simple three-part harmony that had a distinct connection to the Appalachian sound of country's pioneering Carter Family. And Harris' "Strong Hand (Just One Miracle)" paid a nod to the late June Carter and Johnny Cash, whose time-tested relationship has become a symbol for spiritual-level interpersonal connection to this generation.
In the end, Harris lent a heartening believability to all of the material's individuals, whether they came up losers or transcended their circumstances. Although the bulk of the audience is obviously not on her Christmas card list, she found a substantial way to connect.