Sunday, August 2, 2020

Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris - Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA, 9-10-1999

I imagine you'd heard of Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, two great singers with long careers. The two of them joined up with Dolly Parton and put out a couple of albums as a trio, including one in early 1999. Then, later in 1999, Ronstadt and Harris put out their only album as a duo, called "Western Wall: The Tuscon Sessions." After the album came out, the two of them went on tour, but it seems they only did a small number or shows. Unfortunately, Ronstadt's voice began deteriorating around 2000, and she ended her music career around 2009. That means there won't be any other Ronstadt and Harris concerts other than the few ones in late 1999.

So we're lucky that we have a bootleg of their concert collaboration at all. But we're even luckier that this bootleg recording sound absolutely fantastic! I'm guessing the show might have been professionally recorded for a possible live album, because it sounds that good. The only snag with it is that the soundboard is so excellent that one could barely hear the audience at all. To compensate for that, I've boosted the cheering after each song, to make it sound like a typical live album.

In terms of musical content, the two singers stayed on stage for the entire concert and generally sang harmonies on each other's songs. They were backed up by a top-notch band. They leaned heavily on their new album "Western Wall," playing pretty much every song from it. They also did songs from the most recent trio album, "Trio II," as well as songs from earlier in their careers. Overall, the song list is pretty different from typical song lists of when they did concerts on their own, even from that general era.

The concert is fairly long, at two hours and ten minutes. If you're a fan of either singer, you should check this out. But I think they sound even better together than they do on their own. Too bad their collaboration didn't last longer, probably due to Ronstadt's vocals problems.

01 Loving the Highwayman (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
02 For a Dancer (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
03 Raise the Dead (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
04 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
05 Icy Blue Heart (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
06 The Blue Train (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
07 Valerie (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
08 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
09 It Doesn't Matter Anymore (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
10 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
11 Blue Bayou (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
12 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
13 1917 (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
14 Green Pastures (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
15 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
16 Orphan Girl (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
17 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
18 Telling Me Lies (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
19 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
20 All I Left Behind (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
21 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
22 Get Up John (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
23 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
24 Hello Stranger (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
25 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
26 Sweet Spot (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
27 He Was Mine (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
28 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
29 Sisters of Mercy (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
30 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
31 This Is to Mother You (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
32 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
33 Falling Down (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
34 Goin' Back to Harlan (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
35 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
36 [Talk to Me Of] Mendocino (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
37 Heart like a Wheel (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
38 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
39 Wheels (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
40 Born to Run (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
41 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
42 Feels like Home (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
43 Rose of Cimarron (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
44 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
45 Pancho and Lefty (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
46 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
47 High Sierra (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)
48 talk (Linda Ronstadt & Emmyou Harris)


The cover art photo isn't the best photo of Ronstadt and Harris together. I found better. But I'm using it because it comes from the exact concert in question, which I consider a nice lucky break. Ronstadt has the dark hair.

3 comments:

  1. This was a great show. It was produced as a radio broadcast for KSWM in 1999, and backed by Buddy Miller and Bernie Leadon.

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  2. Just a beautiful experience to listen to. Wow!!

    ReplyDelete