Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris – All The Roadrunning

Perhaps the highest compliment that could be bestowed on this record is that if you didn’t know about Mark Knopfler’s Dire Straits days or Emmylou’s Gram Parsons past and subsequent solo flowering, you might well suspect these two have been singing partners for a long time.

Such is the ease with which their voices and sensibilities relate to each other on these twelve tracks. And, in truth, they have been singing together for quite awhile. All The Roadrunning has been in the works for the better part of a decade; the two artists would lay down tracks here and there whenever they had a spare moment, finally convening in Nashville last year to wrap things up (with Knopfler finishing the mixes back in London).

Which might suggest an uneven, cut-and-paste affair, but the in fact the results convey quite the opposite impression. All The Roadrunning is a remarkably cohesive album; though there’s no discernible thematic connection to the all-original material, sonically every track here sounds like it belongs.

Exactly where it belongs is clearly triple-A/Americana radio. There’s no shortage of tracks that should be shoo-ins for airplay even on more conservative adult-alternative stations, starting with the obvious first single “This Is Us”, perhaps the most balanced blend of Knopfler’s modernist leanings with Emmylou’s traditional groundings.

Of course, both artists have gravitated toward each other’s turf in recent years. Harris ventured far beyond country starting with 1995’s Wrecking Ball, and Knopfler took a roots turn with 2000’s Sailing To Philadelphia. The latter album, in fact, was what sparked this collaboration; two tracks on All The Roadrunning — “Donkey Town”, a tender duet featuring Emmylou’s most exquisite vocal moments, and “Red Staggerwing”, a lively hootenanny hoedown — were originally recorded for Sailing, but Knopfler withheld them for the prospect of doing a full album with Harris. Smart man.