Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris: All The Roadrunning

In the winter of 2006, I financed a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It was the very first vehicle I was able to finance, and I was proud of this fact, even though it was far from perfect. (This was also when gas prices hovered in the low ends of the $2 range. Needless to say, I regretted my decision as prices began to rise.) Unfortunately, it didn’t have a CD player, and I wouldn’t be able to take the CD player from my other car for a little bit, so I was stuck listening to the radio for a while. (I briefly considered breaking out some old school cassettes, but couldn’t find anything worth reviving.) One day, while listening to WXPN, I heard an announcement that Mark Knopfler was going to be releasing an album with Allison Krauss, titled All That Roadrunning. I immediately told my dad, knowing he’s a huge Knopfler fan, and I thought I would check it out, too.

When I got to Borders to purchase a copy, it turned out I was a little off: Knopfler was releasing an album, but it was with Emmylou Harris, and it was titled All The Roadrunning. Close enough. Picking up my copy, I slipped it into my car CD player (which had been installed by this time) and was hooked from the very first song. As I continued to listen on the drive home, I found myself taken in by the music, and deliberately missed a turn to my street. It was the perfect scenario: the night was clear and warm, the stars were out, and the soundtrack was appropriate. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that it quickly became my most-played CD of the next year or so.

Mark Knopfler has an endless fascination with Americana and, in particular, the music, and while his union with Emmylou Harris, a country legend in her own right, might at first seem odd to someone unfamiliar with Knopfler’s history, it’s apparent that the mix was right from the first few notes of ‘Beachcombing’, an easy shuffle that blends together the right amount of country with rock ‘n’ roll without the result being too overbearing. It’s a trend that continues on ‘I Dug Up A Diamond’, a somber ballad that slows the album down a notch a bit but still adds that distinctive Knopflerian tone, especially with a concluding guitar solo that positively weeps.

‘This Is Us’ is the big radio hit, and while it’s not the best song on the album, it’s definitely the catchiest – hence its apparent promotion as the lead single. Here, Knopfler and Harris extol the wonders of a couple wrapped up in love, and that even through the passing of time, the most important thing in each others’ lives was, well, each other. It’s absolutely gleeful, so much so that one couldn’t be blamed for believing that Knopfler and Harris themselves were in a relationship. (They’re not.) The double entendres and thinly-veiled innuendo of ‘Red Staggerwing’ might at first seem a bit puerile (“If i was staggerwing plane, a staggerwing painted red / I’d fly over to your house, baby, buzz you in your bed”), but the performance is lively and the singing is fun. Things slow down with ‘Rollin’ On’, which is a bit more subdued and sober than the tracks that surround it, but ‘Love And Happiness’ (one of two songs that Harris wrote or co-wrote on this album) is lovely.

The second half of the album kicks off with ‘Right Now’, which isn’t quite as memorable as the other tracks, though ‘Donkey Town’ (which, along with ‘Red Staggerwing’, had been intended for Knopfler’s Sailing To Philadelphia album but left off) is easily one of the best songs of the album: a slower, gentle C&W number that has an air of remorse to it. Harris’s rollicking ‘Belle Starr’ (named after the infamous 19th century outlaw; hence the tag “I’ll be your Belle Starr, you can be my Jesse James”) picks up the pace considerably, with Harris and Knopfler trading lines and harmonizing jubilantly. If it weren’t for the pedal steel guitar accenting the verses, this could almost pass as a Dire Straits outtake from Money For Nothing.

The last trio of songs are the best here, and form a vague connection of tenderly mournful yet cautiously optimistic country ballads that are almost interchangeable, yet if one is removed from the equation, the impact is that much lessened. ‘Beyond My Wildest Dreams’ features Knopfler’s best and most poignant vocal delivery, slipping into a higher register outside his velvety tone, while Harris harmonizes periodically but leaves most of the work for Knopfler. ‘All The Roadrunning’ is the liveliest of the bunch, and is about the joys of performing live; here, Knopfler abdicates much of the singing to Harris, who obviously relishes in the words – considering she had practically lived them, this comes as no surprise, and makes them all the more effective. It’s been claimed that the closing ‘If This Is Goodbye’ was inspired by 9/11, though there’s little in the lyrics that would indicate this. (Perhaps this may have been ascertained because the gestation of the collaboration was 7 years, meaning it was started as late as 1999; there may have been interviews with Knopfler who indicated the song was written as a response to those terrorist acts, but I haven’t seen them yet.) The song is an ode to ever-lasting love, with Knopfler and Harris again trading verses, though their harmonizing on the bridge is simply gorgeous. The final word is given to Knopfler’s guitar, who devotes the coda to a solo that is designed to remind the listeners that he can be just as expressive on six-strings as he is with his voice. Some might even argue the solo is more emotive than his singing.

All The Roadrunning is only slightly flawed, and its two weaker tracks (‘Right Now’ and ‘Rollin’ On’) could have been sacrificed for a tighter flow, but this is an album that will certainly appeal to fans of Knopfler, Harris, and C&W; even anyone who’s remotely turned off by so-called country music will find the chemistry between Knopfler and Harris irresistable and authentic, which is a lot more than can be said about other double bill duets over the years.

Essential listening: Beachcombing, This Is Us, Donkey Town, Beyond My Wildest Dreams, All The Roadrunning, If This Is Goodbye