Emmylou Harris Drives a "Hard Bargain" With New Album

MUSIC NEWS- Hard Bargain, the new album from music icon Emmylou Harris, has been announced for an April 26 release on Nonesuch Records. It's her follow up the 2008 released, All I Intended to Be, which received widespread acclaim. The thriteen track Hard Bargain, (11 new songs by Harris and two covers) was produced by Jay Joyce (Cage the Elephant, Patty Griffin).  A deluxe edition of the album, which has a DVD featuring six performances interspersed with interviews, will also be released. In addition, Hard Bargain can be pre-ordered at nonesuch.com with an exclusive manuscript lyric sheet of the album's opening track, "The Road," a number of which will be autographed by Harris.

To promote the release, Ms Harris will embark on a series of concert performances that includes a showcase at the 2011 SXSW Music and Media Conference and special shows in New York and Los Angeles (watch for more concert dates).  On April 27,  Harris will perform on the Late Show with David Letterman.  

“We did the whole record in about a month, which is quite unusual for me. But I had all the material beforehand. I’d written 11 of the 13 songs and I really wanted to include two more by other writers,” 12 time Grammy winner Harris explains. “One of the covers is Ron Sexsmith’s ‘Hard Bargain’ which I absolutely love. The other is by Jay Joyce, called ‘Cross Yourself.’

“We did the whole thing with just three musicians, me being one of them. Jay, the producer, and Giles Reeves play everything between them. It’s not a stripped down record though; there’s only one song that’s a little bare bones. I’m basically a slow ballad-y person, but Jay managed to really move the songs up a bit. But they still have the same emotional feel.”

Emmylou Harris HARD BARGAIN Tracklist-

1. The Road

2. Home Sweet Home

3. My Name Is Emmett Till

4. Goodnight Old World

5. New Orleans

6. Big Black Dog

7. Lonely Girl

8. Hard Bargain

9. Six White Cadillacs

10. The Ship on His Arm

11. Darlin’ Kate

12. Nobody

13. Cross Yourself

Emmy Lou Harris Tour Dates-

March

17            Austin, TX            SXSW @ Antone’s

April

21            Los Angeles, CA            El Rey

26            New York City, NY            Bowery Ballroom

(additional concert dates to be announced)