A birthday present from my wife; “All The Roadrunning” by Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris is Knopfler’s latest excursion into country music. All the songs are penned by Knopfler so have the feel of Dire Straits and Notting Hillbillies (remember them?).Harris provides the additional vocals. As a solo artist, I tend to find that her vocals are too thin to carry the music; as an accompaniment, though, she provides a pleasant harmony to Mark Knopfler and it works well. As with his earlier experiments in this genre, Mark Knopfler manages a blend of soft rock and country that is easy on the ears with catchy melodies and simple lyrics that should appeal to soft rock fans and country music aficionados alike – or, it could irritate both immensely, I guess.
It may not rock your socks off, but it makes my feet tap while listening. I like it. I particularly like the quiet, mellow ballad; “Love and Happiness”. If I had to use one word to describe this album, then, yes, “mellow” would be it.
I’m definitely going to get this album in time. On heavy rotation in the house has been Back to Shangri-La by Mark Knopfler. Great album. I bought Kim One Night in London, a dvd of Mark Knopfler as she told me she liked him and was impressed so got myself a copy as well and have been listening to that each night since I got it. The string-laden version of Brothers in Arms is lovely and the 3 tracks with slide virtuoso Sonny Landreth are quite lovely. Have you seen it?