''All the Roadrunning'' is a collaboration between British singer-songwriter and guitarist
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...
and American singer-songwriter
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...
, released on 24 April 2006 by
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
and
Universal Music
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...
internationally, and by
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
in the United States. The album received favorable reviews,
and reached the number one position on album charts in Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland. The album peaked at number eight in the United Kingdom, and number 17 on the
''Billboard'' 200 in the United States.
The title track, which actually was released the year before as a new track on the compilation album
''Private Investigations'', was released as a single and reached number 8 in the UK.
"This Is Us" was released as the first single, followed by "Beachcombing". The album was the result of a longtime collaboration between the two artists. Over the course of seven years, the songs were recorded by the pair with minimal information released about the project. A follow-up live album, ''
Real Live Roadrunning
''Real Live Roadrunning'' is a collaborative live album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler and American singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris, released on 14 November 2006 by Mercury Records and Universal Music internationally, a ...
'', was released following All the Roadrunning Tour.
Background
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris have had long histories of collaborating with and supporting other artists. In addition to 23 solo albums and three successful collaborative albums with
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...
and
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...
, Harris has recorded backing and duet vocals with many of the significant recording artists of her generation, including
The Band,
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...
,
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
,
Gram Parsons
Ingram Cecil Connor III (November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973) who was known professionally as Gram Parsons, was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist who recorded as a solo artist and with the International Submarine Band, ...
,
Townes Van Zandt
John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter. ,
Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Ly ...
and
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
.
Knopfler had also been involved in a number of collaborative projects, recording duets with such artists as
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards.
As a teenager in t ...
and
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...
, and contributing guitar tracks to numerous recordings by other artists, including
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous wi ...
,
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...
,
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Nig ...
,
Sonny Landreth
Clide Vernon "Sonny" Landreth (born February 1, 1951) is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, and settled in Lafayette, Louisiana. He lives in Bre ...
,
Kate & Anna McGarrigle
Kate McGarrigle (February 6, 1946 – January 18, 2010) and Anna McGarrigle (born December 4, 1944) were a duo of Canadian singer-songwriters (and sisters) from Quebec, who performed until Kate McGarrigle's death on January 18, 2010.
Music ca ...
,
Sting
Sting may refer to:
* Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger
* Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself
Fictional characters and entities
* Sting (Middle-eart ...
,
Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...
,
Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from live ...
, and
Jimmy Webb
Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including " Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "MacArthur Park", "Wichita Lineman", "Worst ...
.
Both shared a love of country music and an admiration for one of country music's guitar masters, Chet Atkins. In 1990, Atkins and Knopfler recorded a collaborative album ''
Neck and Neck'', but their friendship went back even further. Knopfler and Harris first met while appearing on a Chet Atkins television special in 1987. They stayed in touch, and about ten years later in Nashville, Knopfler played a few of his songs for Harris, and the idea to record together emerged.
Recording
''All the Roadrunning'' was recorded sporadically over a seven-year period. Two of its tracks, the Cajun-style "Red Staggerwing" and the acoustic ballad "Donkey Town", were originally planned to be included in Knopfler's 2000 solo album ''
Sailing to Philadelphia
''Sailing to Philadelphia'' is the second solo studio album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released on 26 September 2000 by Vertigo Records internationally, and by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album co ...
''. On Thanksgiving evening in 1998, at a recording session in Nashville, Knopfler and Harris ran through the two songs with Harris adding her vocals.
The session sparked the idea for a collaborative album of duets. Harris later recalled, "When you combine two unique voices it creates a third, phantom voice.... I love the third voice that Mark and I create. We noticed right away that our voices blended pretty effortlessly."
Further recording sessions took place in 2002 and 2004, with the pair recording songs from the ground up, supported by some of the best Nashville session players. Their duets album was interrupted by their individual solo projects—Harris's ''
Stumble into Grace
''Stumble into Grace'' is the twentieth studio album by American singer/songwriter Emmylou Harris, released on September 23, 2003 by Nonesuch Records. It peaked at No. 6 on the ''Billboard'' country albums chart. Like its immediate predecessor, ' ...
'' in 2003 and Knopfler's ''
Shangri-La
Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...
'' in 2004—and their supporting tours and promotional activities.
Composition
"If This Is Goodbye" is based on the last telephone calls to loved ones from the passengers of
United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight that was hijacked by four al-Qaeda attackers aboard the plane on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The plane eventually crashed in Som ...
, which crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, after being hijacked by terrorists.
Touring
Knopfler and Harris supported the release of ''All the Roadrunning'' with the All the Roadrunning Tour of Europe and North America, which started on 26 May 2006 in Brussels, Belgium, and included 23 concerts in 23 cities, ending in Berkeley, California, on 30 June 2006.
The tour lineup included
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...
(guitar, vocals),
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...
(guitar, vocals),
Guy Fletcher
Guy Edward Fletcher (born 24 May 1960) is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known for his position as one of the two Keyboard instrument, keyboard players in the rock band Dire Straits from 1984 until the group's dissolution, and his subs ...
(keyboards),
Richard Bennett (guitar),
Stuart Duncan
Stuart Duncan (born April 14, 1964) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo.
Life
Duncan was born in Quantico, Virginia, and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band. He ...
(fiddle, mandolin),
Matt Rollings
Matt Rollings is a Grammy Award-winning American composer, keyboard player and record producer.
Known mainly for playing in Lyle Lovett's Large Band, Rollings has worked with many artists, not all country. Matt won the 'Best Traditional Pop Voca ...
(keyboards),
Glenn Worf
Glenn Worf is an American bassist known mainly for his work as a session musician. He has recorded with many major country music acts and also tours with Mark Knopfler.
Early life and education
Worf was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Madis ...
(bass), and Danny Cummings (drums). The concert on 28 June 2006 at the
Gibson Amphitheatre
Universal Amphitheatre (later known as Gibson Amphitheatre) was an indoor amphitheatre located in Los Angeles, California within Universal City. It was built as an outdoor venue, opening in the summer of 1972 with a production of ''Jesus Christ ...
in Los Angeles was recorded and released as a live album and DVD, ''
Real Live Roadrunning
''Real Live Roadrunning'' is a collaborative live album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler and American singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris, released on 14 November 2006 by Mercury Records and Universal Music internationally, a ...
'', on 14 November 2006 by
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
and
Universal Music
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...
internationally, and by
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
in the United States.
Critical response
In his review for the ''
Winnipeg Sun
The ''Winnipeg Sun'' is a daily tabloid newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
It is owned by Postmedia following its acquisition of Sun Media, and shares many characteristics typical of Sun tabloids, including an emphasis on local news sto ...
'', Darryl Sterdan gave the album four out of five stars, calling the collaboration a "match made in heaven".
Sterdan continued:
Sterdan praised Knopfler's songwriting on the album, especially "This is Us", "Right Now", and the "Celtic-tinged bluegrass" of "Red Staggerwing". Sterdan also noted Knopfler's production, approaching the project with a lighter touch than on his past projects, and wisely reining in his signature guitar work enough to highlight Harris' singing.
In his review for ''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'', Neil McCormick wrote that Knopfler and Harris recorded a "remarkable new album" that is a "collection of rich, mature songs that reflect their combined life experiences", and that is "one of the best albums of both their careers".
In his review for ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'',
Josh Tyrangiel
Josh Tyrangiel is an American journalist. He was previously the deputy managing editor of ''TIME'' magazine and an editor at ''Bloomberg Businessweek''.Stephanie Clifford (November 17, 2009"Josh Tyrangiel Named Editor of BusinessWeek"/ref> In Ju ...
gave the album a B− score, writing that the two artists "seem oddly matched" and that Knopfler's guitarwork tends to overwhelm Harris' vocals.
Track listing
All songs were written by Mark Knopfler, except where indicated.
Personnel
;Music
* Mark Knopfler – vocals, guitar
* Emmylou Harris – vocals, acoustic guitar
(5,9)
*
Richard Bennett – guitar
* Jim Cox – keyboards
*
Guy Fletcher
Guy Edward Fletcher (born 24 May 1960) is an English multi-instrumentalist, best known for his position as one of the two Keyboard instrument, keyboard players in the rock band Dire Straits from 1984 until the group's dissolution, and his subs ...
– keyboards
*
Dan Dugmore
Dan Dugmore is an American session musician known primarily for playing the pedal steel guitar
Born in 1949, Dugmore was raised in Pasadena, California. Influenced by the Flying Burrito Brothers, he learned to play steel guitar after Flying B ...
– acoustic guitar
(6,12), pedal steel guitar
(5,10), six-string bass
(9)
*
Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar
(3)
*
Stuart Duncan
Stuart Duncan (born April 14, 1964) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo.
Life
Duncan was born in Quantico, Virginia, and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band. He ...
– fiddle
(4), mandolin
* Steve Conn – accordion
(4)
* Billy Ware – triangle
(4)
*
Glenn Worf
Glenn Worf is an American bassist known mainly for his work as a session musician. He has recorded with many major country music acts and also tours with Mark Knopfler.
Early life and education
Worf was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Madis ...
– bass
*
Chad Cromwell
Chad Cromwell (born June 14, 1957) is an American rock drummer whose music career has spanned more than 30 years. He is the founding member of a band called Fortunate Sons, which released a self-titled album in 2004.
Cromwell has worked with m ...
– drums
* Danny Cummings – drums
*
Jim Horn
James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician.
Biography
Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for f ...
and
The Memphis Horns
The Memphis Horns were an American horn section, made famous by their many appearances on Stax Records. The duo consisted of Wayne Jackson (November 24, 1941 – June 21, 2016) on trumpet and Andrew Love (November 21, 1941 - April 12, 2012) on ...
– horns
(12)
;Production
* Mark Knopfler – producer
*
Chuck Ainlay
Chuck Ainlay is an American record producer and audio engineer. He has worked with Mark Knopfler on much of Knopfler's solo work, in addition to some Dire Straits material. He has 4 Grammy Awards and 5 nominations.
Along with Knopfler and Bob Ludw ...
– producer, recording engineer, mixing
* Guy Fletcher – recording engineer
* Mark Kapps – recording engineer (horns)
* John Saylor – assistant recording engineer
* Mark Ralston – assistant recording engineer
* Rupert Coulson – mixing assistant
* Graham Meek – technical support
* Maria Verel – hair and makeup for Ms. Harris
* Fabio Iovino – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
External links
''All the Roadrunning''a
Mark Knopfler official website
{{Authority control
Mark Knopfler albums
Emmylou Harris albums
2006 albums
Albums produced by Chuck Ainlay
Albums produced by Mark Knopfler
Warner Records albums
Mercury Records albums
Collaborative albums