Maybe it was just a matter of momentum. It took
Emmylou Harris and
Rodney Crowell close to four decades to get around to making a duets album after the two first started working together in the mid-'70s, when he became a guitarist and frequent songwriter with her
Hot Band. But just two years after releasing 2013's
Old Yellow Moon,
Harris and
Crowell have the ball rolling again with
The Traveling Kind, another album built around their easy but heartfelt creative interplay as both vocalists and songwriters.
Harris and
Crowell co-wrote six of
The Traveling Kind's 11 songs, and tunes like "You Can't Say We Didn't Try" and the title track reflect
Harris' sweet, firm, very human tone as well as
Crowell's outwardly cocky but inwardly perceptive voice, and the sweet and sour push and pull complements them both.
Harris has been singing
Crowell's songs for years, but their collaborative efforts have a special sort of gravity when they bring their voices together, as her heavenly tone merges with his earthier instrument.
Harris and
Crowell also throw a few covers into the mix, and their interpretations of
Lucinda Williams' "I Just Wanted to See You So Bad" and
Amy Allison's "Her Hair Was Red" are sung with the enthusiasm and care of fans who love and respect the material they're bringing to life. And though several of the cuts reflect the moodier, more atmospheric sound
Harris first embraced with
Wrecking Ball (the loose, ghostly sound of "The Weight of the World" is one of the album's most satisfying moments), they still find room for some rough and sweet honky tonk workouts, and "If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Now" would be a C&W hit in an earlier, better era.
Old Yellow Moon didn't sound like the event some people were expecting it to be, and the same can be said of
The Traveling Kind, but that's mainly because, good as it is,
The Traveling Kind never sounds fussed over. Instead, this is the work of two close friends and trusted collaborators who readily fall into a groove when they work together. They don't appear to be aiming for a masterpiece; instead, they wanted to write some good songs and let them shine in the studio, and on that level,
The Traveling Kind is a rousing success and a deeply satisfying work.