Country Gold #1 – Boulder to Birmingham by Emmylou Harris
Today I’m delighted to start a new series on Belles and Gals – ‘Country Gold’. This will be a series featuring the very best songs from female country artists, either from the past or the present. I’m starting with a personal favourite of mine in Emmylou Harris’s ‘Boulder to Birmingham’.
In 1971, members of the country rock group ‘The Flying Burrito Brothers’ saw Emmylou Harris perform live, and recommended the singer to former band member Gram Parsons, who was looking for a female vocalist to work with on his solo work. The album ‘GP’ was released and both in the studio and live, the music they created was simply incredible (if you haven’t listened to their work, please do, you won’t regret it). In September 1973, Gram Parsons died suddenly of an accidental overdose of drink and drugs. His second album ‘Grievous Angel’ was released posthumously the following year.
In 1975 Emmylou Harris released her first solo album with a major record label, ‘Pieces of the Sky’. The album had a real eclectic mix, with a number of covers, including fantastic versions of Dolly Parton’s ‘Coat of Many Colors’, Merle Haggard’s ‘Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down’ and The Beatles ‘For No One’. One song particularly stands out for me however – ‘Boulder to Birmingham’.
The song was written soon after the death of Gram Parsons, and Emmylou has stated since that she wrote it while ‘in the throes of deep grief and shock, after losing someone that quickly and unexpectedly‘. The grief felt by the singer is perfectly expressed in both the lyrics and the performance. The chorus ‘I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham/I would hold my life in a saving grace/I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham/If I thought I could see, see your face‘ expresses the desperation you feel after the loss of a loved one, knowing you’ll never seem them again. While the guilt felt at being the one left behind is expressed in the emotion-filled line ‘Well you really got me this time, And the hardest part is knowing I’ll survive‘.
Aside from the lyrics, the meaning and even the performance of it, ‘Boulder to Birmingham’ is just an incredible song. The first time I heard it, I knew nothing about the back story but it was already a song I connected with. Knowing what I know now, the song has become a very special one.
I don’t want to hear a love song
I got on this airplane just to fly
I know there’s life below me
And all that you can show me is the prairie and the sky
I don’t want to hear a sad story filled with heartbreak and desire
The last time I felt like this
I was in the wilderness and the canyon was on fire
And I stood on the mountain in the night
And I watched it burn, I watched it burn, I watched it burn
I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham
I would hold my life in a saving grace
I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham
If I thought I could see, see your face
Well you really got me this time
And the hardest part is knowing I’ll survive
And I’ve come to listen to the sounds of trucks
As they moved out on Highway 95
And pretending it’s the ocean coming to wash me clear
To wash me clear if you know what I mean
I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham
I would hold my life in a saving grace
I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham
If I thought I could see, see your face
Article written by Nick Cantwell (twitter.com/nickbelles_gals)
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/emmylou-harris-pays-tribute-to-gram-parsons-on-new-album-20110607
