1. Shores of White Sand
2. Hold On
3. Moon Song
4. Broken Man's Lament
5. Gold
6. How She Could Sing the Wildwood
7. All That You Have is Your Soul
8. Take That Ride
9. Old Five and Dimers Like Me
10. Kern River
11. Not Enough
12. Sailing Round the Room
13. Beyond the Great Divide
Album Description
On her second Nonesuch disc, Emmylou Harris assembles an extraordinary cast of veteran musicians and fellow singers, all of them longtime friends, for a set that indeed showcases this Nashville icon, and 2008 CMA Hall of Fame inductee, as all she has intended to be - a singularly expressive vocalist, a brilliant interpreter of other people's songs, a graceful and confident songwriter. In particular, the album displays Harris's ability to bring new life to songs that may have been overlooked, forgotten or lost along the way. Some of the most affecting material here may be the least well-known - though not for long: John Wesley Routh's celtic/country "Shores Of White Sands" and trucker-poet Mark Germino's heartrending story-song, "Broken Man's Lament." Harris has chosen these songs with conceptual care. Like much of the gently uplifting All I Intended To Be, the stories may be bittersweet, the characters may be downtrodden, but somehow a sense of redemption always vanquishes regret. The shared history of all the artists involved deepens the feeling of hard-won wisdom that informs All I Intended To Be. Producer Brian Ahern was behind the boards for such early Harris classics as Elite Hotel, Pieces of the Sky and Blue Kentucky Girl. The players and guest stars are not only a veritable who's-who from the worlds of country, bluegrass and folk, but they have each intersected with Harris throughout her four-decade career as a recording artist. They include Dolly Parton, singers Pam Rose and Maryann Kennedy, dobro player (and longtime Seldom Scene member) Mike Auldredge, keyboardists Glenn D. Hardin (of Harris's Hot Band and Elvis Presley's legendary TCB combo) and Bill Payne (of Little Feat). Two songs - the June Carter tribute, "How She Could Sing The Wildwood Flower" and the breathtakingly beautiful "Sailing Round the Room" - were co-written by and performed with Kate and Anna McGarrigle. Singer-songwriter Karen Brooks, whose own eighties-era version of "Shores of White Sands" was the inspiration and thematic jumping-off point for this entire album, contributes backing vocals throughout; Randy Sharp, Brooks' singing partner, did the vocal arranging. (Harris won a 2005 Best Country Vocal Performance Grammy for her rendition of Sharp's "The Connection.") Harris's own songs, like the heartache ballad "Gold" and the elegiac "Not Enough," blend seamlessly with work by Patty Griffin ("Moon Song"), Merle Haggard ("Kern River") and Billy Joe Shaver ("Old Five and Dimers," from which the album title is taken). Harris revives what is arguably Tracy Chapman's most eloquent song, "Fast Car" notwithstanding - "All That You Have Is Your Soul," a cautionary tale with a simple but profound prayer of a chorus. Displaying the maturity, elegance and ease that distinguished All The Road Running, her best-selling 2006 collaboration with Mark Knopfler. Harris has created a riveting emotional and spiritual journey. All That I Intended To Be is everything a listener and fan could hope for.
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All I Intended to Be
- Audio CD: 0 pages (2008-06-10)
- Publisher: Nonesuch
- Label: Nonesuch
- Studio: Nonesuch
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 31 reviews
- Sales Rank in Music: #3
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: A Masterpiece For Emmylou 2008-07-04
Comment: HAVING BEEN A FAN OF EMMYLOU SINCE PIECES OF THE SKY, HER FIRST ALBUM, I HAVE HEARD THIS WOMAN GROW AND DEVELOP INTO ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ARTIST AROUND. WITH THIS ALBUM SHE HAS CREATED A MASTERPIECE WORK! SONGS LIKE "NOT ENOUGH" WHICH I INTERPERT AS A SONG ABOUT GRAM PARSONS, I COULD BE WRONG BUT THATS JUST MY FEELING. "GOLD" IS MAJESTIC, AS IS "HOLD ON". EVERY SINGLE SONG ON THIS ALBUM IS EXQUISITE BUT THE MASTERSTROKE IS "SAILING ROUND THE ROOM" IT IS SIMPLY THE BEST WORK EMMYLOU HAS EVER RECORDERD ALONG WITH KATE AND ANNA SINGING BACKGROUND VOCALS THIS SONG IS A TREASURE...WHAT MAKES THIS LP REAL SPECIAL IS THAT IT IS TOTALLY OUT OF STEP WITH THE PURE GARBAGE OF TODAY'S MUSIC...EMMYLOU IS A GENUIS WHO HAS GROWN WITH EACH ALBUM SHE RECORDS
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beautiful 2008-07-02
Comment: I am entirely grateful to finally find a relaxing modern album. Thank you for this introspective and sublime music--let this set a precedent for a decaying recording industry that focuses too much on image and not enough on quality or substance in art. Art should touch human beings on a much deeper, often inexplicable, yet intuitive level.
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Love that Emmylou ! 2008-06-30
Comment: I have been an Emmylou fan since the beginning, and I always buy her albums. This one is amazingly gorgeous. Usually, you get one or two uptempo footstompin' numbers, but all of these are slow beautiful dirges. This is the perfect rainy day album. The woman has exquisite taste in picking (or creating) her material. The original songs are lovely, but a couple of the classics (one by Tracey Chapman, Merle Haggard's "Kern River") almost, dare I say it?, surpass the originals. I have played the Kern River one the most and wish it had been part of the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack. I don't think I've ever heard anything as heart-breaking as this song the way she does it. And who else can harmonize with herself so angelically? If one Emmylou is sublime, what can you say about three or four of them gloriously combined? This CD is a must for anyone who likes the artistry of the classic achingly-pure Emmylou.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Songs For The Front Porch 2008-06-28
Comment: I have never been much of a country music fan, but Emmylou's sound has always resonated with me. Having just seen her at an outdoor concert outside Chicago, I can tell you that Emmylou is all heart and soul. She transcends genres (I guess that's why they call her "alternative" country?) and makes you feel like you are sitting on the front porch with her as she tells stories and plays the guitar. While I love her voice and message, the songs on this album sound a little too much alike. I would have liked more variety as the ballads sounded very similar. But they were all gorgeous, especially the one with Dolly. Buy this one for when you have a bad day and you need someone to understand--Emmylou will!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
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Summary: An elegant, understated convergence of her later style with her ealier influences 2008-06-28
Comment: Emmylou Harris does not rest on her laurels. Since the release of 'Wrecking Ball' in 1995, she has been redefining what we expect of her, both as a composer and singer. All I Intended To Be, continues that process, subtly and beautifully. At first blush, it feels like a return to her more traditional earlier style, but on closer listening it incorporates, albeit less overtly, many of the elements that Daniel Lanois introduced into Harris' sound with Wrecking Ball, and which she continued with Red Dirt Girl and Stumble into Grace.
The album includes songs penned by Harris, Merle Haggard, Patty Griffin, Tracy Chapman, and collaborative efforts with Harris and Kate & Anna McGarrigle. The song choice and sequencing is perfect. Sailing Round the Room is a standout: cowritten (and performed) with the McGarrigles, it is song about dying that manages to be wistful without being mawkish, life affirming but without any of the cheesiness that such a description can conjure. Patty Griffin's Moon Song showcases everything that is great about Harris' singing - beautiful phrasing, great strength with that fragile break that she always deploys in service of the story and never for cheap effect. Really, there's not a weak track on the album.
Brian Ahern produces here, to very good effect. He clearly understands the changes she has made since their earlier collaborations; he works with these changes rather than dragging her back to an earlier sound.
Emmylou Harris made a wise choice back in 1995 when she took herself off in a new direction musically. Instead of trying to please a label that had stopped supporting her, she found one - Nonesuch - that has clearly given her the freedom to create her own sound. All I Intended To Be is the work of a mature artist creating her own kind of contemporary American music - with country elements and folk elements, but with something else hard to define which makes both of those labels seem inadequate.
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All I Intended to Be
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