

Eschewing the more rock-leaning sound she’d become known for, Emmylou Harris went country as cowboy boots for 1979’s Blue Kentucky Girl. There’s a touch of the album title state’s famous bluegrass in the jaunty, fiddle-touched opener, “Sister’s Coming Home.” And the Gram Parsons tune found here is one of his most traditional cuts—a lonesome, wistful “Hickory Wind.” She also teamed up with a couple of other powerful, contemporary voices—Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt—to deliver a majorly twangy “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.”