They hardly make the most obvious pairing, Emmylou's piercing, plaintive melodies and Knopfler's dusky, mid-Atlantic drone, the one able to soar around an intricate bluegrass harmony, the other confined to what colour charts term 'earthy tones'. Still, when one inveterate collaborator meets another, things happen, and having hit it off over a couple of duets for a Hank Williams tribute album (Timeless), Mark'n' Emmylou decided to go all the way.
The resulting record, made on sneaked studio time, has taken several years to arrive. Securely targeted at the pair's respective Boomer fan bases, it proves a warm, agreeable affair, though likely to disappoint anyone expecting creative sparks.
There's something of an unequal partnership at work, less because 10 of the dozen tracks are penned by Knopfler - Harris has never been a prolific writer - than because nothing and nobody is going to get in the way of Mark's gee-tar. For stretches of the record Emmylou is reduced to supplying harmony for Knopfler's lead vocals, as on the dirge-like 'I Dug Up A Diamond', which Knopfler delivers with the joy of a gardener who has uncovered an old bedspring, or she is simply overwhelmed by twang, as on the sub-Springsteen rock of 'Beyond My Wildest Dreams'.
The best moments arrive on the genuine duets, where the contrast in the pair's vocal styles becomes a strength, and they trade verses like a married couple going through a favourite routine. Mostly these are love-ins; 'This is Us' is a somewhat twee ride down memory lane, 'Red Staggerwing' is a cheery hoe-down (which references Knopfler's favourite cars, bikes and planes), and Harris's 'Love and Happiness' is a straightforward exercise in country sentimentality. The gritty end of relationships fuels the bluesy 'Right Now', while 'Rollin' On' and 'Donkeytown' are a pair of moody blue-collar ballads to remind us of Knopfler's gifts as a narrator of ordinary lives.
Inspired by comments from Ian McEwan following 9/11, the closing 'If This is Goodbye' aims to do something similar for those trapped inside the Twin Towers making calls to their loved ones. Well meant, but its tone is uncomfortably mawkish, and that guitar solo sounds awfully like something from Local Hero. But that, of course, is exactly what many Knopfler fans want - and if he's decided to sport a stetson this time round, fine.
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'Rollin' On'; 'Right Now'
