Emmylou Harris photo by Rocky Schenck, courtesy of Nonesuch Records.

Emmylou Harris is teaming up with Rodney Crowell, her famed Hot Band’s original guitarist, for a duet album, reports Billboard.com. They are working with producer Brian Ahern, who first worked with Emmylou on her major label solo debut, Pieces of the Sky, in 1975.

“At one point before the Hot Band, the Hot Band was me and Rodney sitting around with two acoustic guitars learning Don Gibson songs,” Emmylou said. “It’s kind of a thing we always said, ‘We’ve got to do a duet record,’ and he’s been busy and I’ve been busy. But earlier this year I just decided that I wanted to do a record with him, and if we didn’t book it and plan it and set aside some time, it would be something we’d get to the end of our lives and regret we’d never done it.”

The album will feature mainly cover songs, but they have considered songs Rodney wrote for others but never recorded himself. They are pretty far along in the recording process, but have been battling sickness and hope to finish the project soon. They are hoping to play a few shows together as well.  “I’m sure we’ll do something, but he’s got his career and I’ve got mine, so I don’t know what we’ll be able to do for sure,” Emmylou said.

This year is also the 25^th anniversary of Emmylou’s first Trio album with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton. To celebrate, the GRAMMY-winning collaboration will be re-released alongside 1999’s Trio 2 (as well as session outtakes), in a boxed set. Emmylou will also keep touring in support of 2011’s Hard Bargain. Emmylou wrote 11 of that album’s 13 tracks. “I’m very happy with that record,” she said. “I figured it was time to put on the writing hat, and I gave myself some time write, really cleared my schedule and put my energy into writing. I think it shows. We perform a lot of songs from that album, and it’s always good to have new material that you like to go with all the old stuff that I still, fortunately, like. It keeps you fresh.”

Emmylou’s next performance is scheduled for January 27 in Champaign, Illinois. Her Hard Times album is nominated for a GRAMMY in the Best Americana Album category.

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“You learn to listen to the lyrics and to the melody,” she told the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette in 1996. “I never thought about it until I got away from home. I used to feel instruments got in the way of listening to the melody and the lyrics. I think it’s very beautiful to hear that many voices, untrained, singing from the heart and soul.”

Hazel moved to Baltimore as a teenager. In the 1950s, she met Mike Seeger, half brother of folk artist Pete Seeger. The pair started performing together and through Mike she met Alice Gerrard. Hazel and Alice became a fixture on bluegrass circuit in the 1960s and 70s and she continued as a solo artist when they split in the mid-70s.

Hazel was known for being supportive of the working class, penning songs about immigrants and wronged women. She was a voice for coal miners and the poor. Her music was featured in Harlan County, USA, Barbara Kopple’s 1976 Oscar-winning documentary about Kentucky coal miners. She also appeared and sang in the film Matewan in 1987 about labor organizing in a mining town.

Hazel was honored with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. A tribute album is being prepared with artists like Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and the Judds performing Hazel’s songs. Naomi Judd has said that a Hazel & Alice LP was a major influence behind the sound of The Judds. A new album from Hazel is close to being released. She was divorced, and a brother was her only immediate survivor.

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Jennifer Nettles, Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood and The Judds perform during the Girls' Night Out: Superstar Women Of Country concert. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

If you were in Las Vegas last Monday night and were lucky enough to attend the Academy of Country Music’s Girls’ Night Out: Superstar Women Of Country taping, you saw many once-in-a-lifetime performances. Each part of the show – which spotlighted honorees Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, The Judds, Sugarland‘s Jennifer Nettles and Martina McBride – featured a musical collaboration as well as a video tribute and performance salute. Click HERE to see photos from the taping!

Country Aircheck reports that Miranda’s fiancé Blake Shelton sang “Famous In A Small Town” for her. Miranda also debuted her new group Pistol Annie with Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley to perform “Hell On Heels.” Vince Gill sang “Jesus Take The Wheel” for Carrie, who then joined Vince on “How Great Thou Art.” Rascal Flatts performed “Why Haven’t I Heard From You” for Reba, who sang “The Heart Won’t Lie” with the Flatts. John Fogerty performed “Rockin’ With The Rhythm Of The Rain” for the Judds. Wynonna and Fogerty then performed “Proud Mary,” while Naomi Judd observed. Sugarland partner Kristian Bush hosted a video tribute for Nettles, who joined Ronnie Dunn on “Let Him Fly.” Dunn also performed Sugarland’s “Stay.” Little Big Town and McBride sang Linda Ronstadt’s “When Will I Be Loved.” Honoree Loretta Lynn couldn’t attend the taping because of recent knee surgery, but she spoke via a satellite video feed.

Additional performers included Sara Evans (for the late Tammy Wynette), the JaneDear girls (for Kitty Wells), The Band Perry (for Patsy Cline) and Jason Aldean (“She’s Country”).

Girls’ Night Out airs April 22 at 9 p.m. Eastern on CBS.

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Harley Allen photo courtesy of MySpace.com/harleyallenmusic.

GAC extends condolences to the loved ones of singer/songwriter Harley Allen, who died today after fighting lung cancer. Harley came from a musical family; his father was bluegrass artist Red Allen. Harley was an artist on Mercury Records in 1996 and his album Another River contained the song “Between The Devil And Me,” which Alan Jackson recorded a year later.

Harley’s body of work will be enjoyed for years to come. The list of country hits penned by him is long, but includes:

Blake Shelton’s “The Baby”
Alan Jackson’s “Everything I Love” and “The Angels Cried”
John Michael Montgomery’s “The Little Girl”
Joe Nichols’ “I’ll Wait For You”
Darryl Worley’s “Awful, Beautiful Life”
Gary Allan’s “Tough Little Boys”
“High Sierra” (recorded by Linda Ronstadt in 1995 and by Trio (a.k.a. Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt) in 1998)

To hear more of Harley’s music, visit his MySpace page.

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Carrie Underwood performing in a pickup truck, suspended high above the crowd at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on October 13, 2010.

One thing is very clear about Carrie Underwood: She’s not afraid of heights!

Carrie brought her Play On Tour to Music City’s Bridgestone Arena Wednesday night, playing quite often with the altitude in the place. A series of hydraulic platforms lifted her at times 15 feet above the stage, which was already several feet above the venue’s floor. A swing lifted her 12 feet or so as she belted out “Just A Dream.” And the night’s biggest effect had her singing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” from the back of a pickup truck that travelled over the audience, hung from a track cabled to the ceiling.

But the real heights were the tone and volume of her performances. Carrie’s recordings are always big, but in person, she’s even more impressive, kicking out those challenging vocals for an hour and 45 minutes, letting up only long enough for the occasional costume change. She hit those notes with impressive precision, not only holding the tones but also delivering them with power.

Particularly stunning was “I Know You Won’t,” a song from the Carnival Ride album that had her hitting difficult intervals with clarity and expression. Singers do that periodically while contorting their faces and their bodies, but not Carrie. She rendered the whole thing with minimal effort while sitting on a step. The effect was simply jaw-dropping.

Carrie Underwood performing at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on October 13, 2010.

With her unrelenting power and attraction to dramatic material, Carrie is essentially the latest in a stylistic line that derives from Martina McBride and Trisha Yearwood, who in turn bear some similarity in approach to their predecessor, Linda Ronstadt. And if she employed just a little more campy drama, you could compare Carrie to powerhouse Patti LaBelle, too.

Carrie will return to the arena Nov. 10 to co-host the 44th annual Country Music Association Awards with Brad Paisley as the industry celebrates itself.

After Wednesday’s show, which included opening acts Billy Currington and Sons Of Sylvia, the after-party was all about Carrie — a room full of executives ate doughnuts and biscuits and sweet potato pancakes on a stick, and talked about what a significant display they’d just seen. Fellow “American Idol” alum Danny Gokey was there, as were Grand Ole Opry manager Pete Fisher and songwriters Brett James (“Cowboy Casanova”), Ashley Gorley (“You’re Gonna Miss This”) and Kelley Lovelace (“All-American Girl”).

And some of the folks in the room were probably wishing they could have a second shot at filling out their early-round CMA ballots, because you can make a pretty easy case that a woman with that kind of natural talent and that level of showmanship belongs among the Entertainer of the Year finalists.

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Kenny Edwards main photo by Gabriel Judet-Weinshel. Inset: Kenny with Linda Ronstadt. Photos courtesy of kennyedwards.com.

Bass player and guitarist Kenny Edwards, who worked extensively with Linda Ronstadt and played on a number of country hits in the 1980s and ‘90s, died Wednesday in California at age 64.

Kenny had a rare blood disorder and had been in chemotherapy for prostate cancer, according to the Los Angeles Times, yet he continued to tour with singer-songwriter Karla Bonoff. He collapsed in Denver earlier this month and, after reaching out to fans via his website, received funding to be airlifted back to a hospital in Santa Barbara, where he passed away.

“He was always a beacon to me,” Linda told the Times. “He introduced me to so much stuff, and his opinion always counted a lot to me.”

Kenny was a member of the Stone Poneys, the band that brought Linda her first pop hit with “Different Drum” in 1967. Even after the group broke up, he remained part of the core community of Southern California musicians who played a role in the singer-songwriter movement of the 1970s. He contributed to Linda’s country hits — “When Will I Be Loved,” “Love Is A Rose,” “Blue Bayou,” “Crazy” and “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You)” — and his name appeared in the credits on albums by Warren Zevon, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks and Juice Newton, among others. Kenny was part of the studio bands that created J.D. Souther’s 1979 hit “You’re Only Lonely” and Andrew Gold’s 1977 release “Lonely Boy.” He also produced Karla Bonoff’s infectious 1982 release “Personally.”

His relationship with Linda also landed Kenny a prominent role in the development of the landmark Trio album with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. But it was hardly his only contribution to country music. He played on David Lee Murphy’s classic “Dust On The Bottle,” Kathy Mattea’s “Walking Away A Winner,” Wynonna’s “Tell Me Why” and the Charlie Daniels Band’s “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye.”

Despite his proficiency, Kenny never released an album of his own until 2002. He’ll be honored Sunday with a memorial concert at Zoey’s Café in Ventura, Calif.

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John Fogerty photo courtesy of Shore Fire Media.

He’s a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but that doesn’t mean John Fogerty doesn’t know a little somethin’ about country music.

His latest album, The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, is dominated by classic country songs, including John Denver’s “Back Home Again,” the Kendalls’ “Heaven’s Just A Sin Away,” Ray Price’s “I’ll Be There (If You Ever Want Me)” and Buck Owens’ “I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me).” He enlisted a band that includes Americana stalwart Buddy Miller and standup bass player Dennis Crouch, and it actually leans closer to pure country than a lot of the material that’s now accepted as commercial country.

“It’s been a part of me since I was a baby,” John notes. “I daresay I certainly heard country music before I ever heard rock ‘n’ roll because rock ‘n’ roll didn’t exist yet. [I liked] the sound of the instruments, first of all, and then — I’m goin’ way, way back, I’m thinkin’ into the ‘50s — I liked the style. I liked the attitude and the presentation.”

A couple Blue Ridge tracks fold in guest appearances from some of John’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame comrades. Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit provide backing vocals on a cover of Rick Nelson’s “Garden Party,” and Bruce Springsteen adds his voice to a version of “When Will I Be Loved,” a song originated by the Everly Brothers and made a hit again in the ’70s by Linda Ronstadt.

It’s an appropriate link of the two genres. The Eagles, Linda and Rick all had a hand in the rise of country/rock in the early 1970s. And Bruce’s songs have such a heartland thread in them that they’ve been covered by the likes of Johnny Cash, Kenny Chesney and Emmylou Harris.

It was the artists who had their feet in both genres — country and early rock music — who particularly appealed to John.

“So many of them were what we now call crossover artists and basically they were just doin’ what they did,” John says. “Carl Perkins sang ‘Blue Suede Shoes.’ Rock ‘n’ rollers loved that, but Carl himself, I think, thought of himself as rock ‘n’ roll, but everything he knew up to that point was sort of blues and country. Elvis Presley was in the same boat. So many of those guys were just doin’ what they did, and it ended up being this new thing that was country and rock ‘n’ roll at the same time.”

The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again is a long-overdue sequel to a 1973 album that marked John’s first solo project after leaving Creedence Clearwater Revival. On The Blue Ridge Rangers, he played every instrument and covered some of the most important acts in country music history, including Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Jimmie Rodgers.

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Emmylou Harris photo by Rocky Schenck, courtesy of Nonesuch Records.

According to the UPI, Emmylou Harris was presented with an honorary doctor of music at a bluegrass festival in San Francisco by the Berklee College of Music yesterday.

Berklee President Roger Brown made the presentation, along with Emmylou’s longtime friend Linda Ronstadt and bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs — both Berklee honorary doctorate recipients.

“Not only is Emmylou Harris a consummate musician, an inspired songwriter and a singer with a crystalline voice, she has also been a friend, mentor, collaborator and supporter of many wonderful musicians throughout her career,” Brown said in a statement. “She has a magnificent artistic vision and a magnificently generous spirit as well.”

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