Hard Bargain

Death hangs over Emmylou Harris’ 26th album, but she sounds anything but defeated. Instead, she uses her sweet, soaring vocals to celebrate the departed. Her mentor Gram Parsons is eulogized in the stately country rock of “The Road,” and frequent collaborator Kate McGarrigle is memorialized with a hushed and touching lullaby. Harris takes on the world’s historic losses too, with the hymnlike lament “My Name Is Emmett Till” and the cracking beat and slashing guitar of “New Orleans,” celebrating post-Katrina spirit.