Duets

For the last couple of weeks, I've been listening to Raising Sand, the album that brought Robert Plant and Alison Krauss together.  And, a few weeks before that I purchased one of the new singles on Neil Diamond's latest album, Home Before Dark (this album was produced by Rick Rubin who helped orchestrate the American recordings for Johnny Cash).  Like Cash's American albums, Home Before Dark features a scaled back approach, allowing Neil Diamond to exercise his essential giftedness.  It just so happens the song I purchased was another duet:  Neil Diamond paired up with Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks.  

There's something else going on in the Kendall house, too.  It's the number two.  As of yesterday, we have taken definite steps to end our ability to (re)produce any more Wes' or Anna's - leaving the prospective number of descendants at ... two.  So, in honor of Wyatt and Elise, here are my ten top duets (I'll even include videos of #10 & #1):

10.   Johnny Cash & Joni Mitchell - Long Black Veil:  Two of my favorite singer-songwriters of all time, on opposite sides of the range.  Even their personalities in this video seem light years apart (the angelic Mitchell and the hardened Cash).  This song was a Cash original I believe.  But, on the Johnny Cash show, it was not uncommon for Cash to pair up with another big name star to sing a song.  Interestingly, this song has since become a favorite for other duet-ers, including a rendition by Dave Matthews and Emmylou Harris (see it here).  

9.  Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel - Bookends:  It's hard to qualify Paul and Art as a duet.  They seemed so much one up until their break.  But, of all their songs, Bookends most clearly demonstrates the grace exuded by their harmonies.

8.  Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush - Don't Give Up:  If you check Youtube, you can find the original video from the 80's.  The song really is great, but when you watch the video it just seems agonizingly awkward.  Gabriel and Bush grasp each other in forced embrace with a sun in the background, which becomes eclipsed.  Although, given Gabriel's other videos ... well, it's fairly normal.

7.  Johnny Cash & Bob Dylan - Girl from the North Country:  Another strange pairing for Mr. Cash.  Bob Dylan supposedly had quit smoking when this song was originally recorded, which only added to the uniqueness in his voice.  This is a great country song, something I imagine sung out on those wild, lonesome prairies.

6.  Ray Charles & Willie Nelson - It Was a Very Good Year:  Every time I hear this song, I still think of the Simpson's when Homer has the flashback to his late high school years ("When I was seventeen I drank some very good beer ...").  But, that aside, Charles and Nelson add their strong, soulful voices to the reminiscent instruments.  Originally a Sinatra hit, Ray remade it along with several other songs on the duet album Genius Loves Company. 

5.  Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Your Long Journey:  What strikes me about this duo is that both Plant and Krauss seem confined on the album, particularly Plant.  That's especially true on the hit song, Stick With Me Baby.  It's as if they recorded the song with the mic in the next room over.  And on Journey, Krauss clearly takes the lead throughout the song.  Still, the combination of these two stars with the bluegrass picking is perfect. 

4.  Neil Diamond & Natalie Maines - Another Day (That Time Forgot):  Right away, Neil Diamond commands the stage with that rasping remembering.  Then comes Natalie Maines:  perfect and haunting in her own way.  Together the strike out as opposite in equal - strong man, strong woman.  And the song ends with them both releasing the day with painful, healing cries of lament, "Oh no!"  

3.  Bono & Daniel Lanois - Falling At Your Feet:  Lanois - whose fame rose after the movie Friday Night Lights - paired up with U2's lead man to create a subtle, encompassing song that is largely a prayer.  The song's point:  every one of us falls down, which is both the epitome of frailty and praise.  As David Crowder would say:  it's a beautiful collision.

2.  Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing:  Motown's miracle makers, Gaye and Terrell produced hit after hit in the mid to late 60's, including other well known duets like Ain't No Mountain High Enough and You're All I Need to Get By.  Terrell died tragically young in 1970, putting an end to some great music.  It also sent Marvin Gaye in a completely new direction.  In 1971, he would release What's Going On. 

1.  Loretta Lynn & Jack White - Portland, Oregon:  This is just brilliant.  With White producing the album, Loretta Lynn found her career resurrected, bringing the Coal Miner's Daughter into a whole new generation.  The entire album won a Grammy for best country album, and Portland, Oregon won for best country collaboration with vocals.  In some ways, this is not a duet.  The third voice is Jack White's guitar, which sings the first 1:35.  And then comes Lynn:  "Well, Portland, Oregon and sloe gin fizz, if that ain't love, then tell me what is ... uh huh ..."

~Wes