Old Yellow Moon

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title: "Old Yellow Moon" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2013-albums", "emmylou-harris-albums", "rodney-crowell-albums", "nonesuch-records-albums", "albums-produced-by-brian-ahern-(producer)", "grammy-award-for-best-americana-album"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Yellow_Moon" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox album"]

Field	Value
name	Old Yellow Moon
type	studio
artist	Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell
cover	Old Yellow Moon.jpg
released
recorded	2012
genre	Country, folk
length
label	Nonesuch
producer	Brian Ahern
chronology	Emmylou Harris
prev_title	Hard Bargain
prev_year	2011
next_title	The Traveling Kind
next_year	2015
misc	{{Extra chronology
artist	Rodney Crowell
type	studio
prev_title	Sex & Gasoline
prev_year	2008
title	Old Yellow Moon
year	2013
next_title	Tarpaper Sky
next_year	2014
::

| name = Old Yellow Moon | type = studio | artist = Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell | cover = Old Yellow Moon.jpg | alt = | released = | recorded = 2012 | venue = | studio = | genre = Country, folk | length = | label = Nonesuch | producer = Brian Ahern | chronology = Emmylou Harris | prev_title = Hard Bargain | prev_year = 2011 | next_title = The Traveling Kind | next_year = 2015 | misc = {{Extra chronology | artist = Rodney Crowell | type = studio | prev_title = Sex & Gasoline | prev_year = 2008 | title = Old Yellow Moon | year = 2013 | next_title = Tarpaper Sky | next_year = 2014

Old Yellow Moon is a collaborative album by American country music singer-songerwriters Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, released on February 26, 2013, in the United States by Nonesuch Records. It is the 27th and 14th studio album for Harris and Crowell, respectively, as well as Harris's fifth album for Nonesuch Records. The duo followed up this collaboration with The Traveling Kind two years later.

Produced by Harris' ex-husband and longtime producer Brian Ahern, Old Yellow Moon was recorded in 2012 at Eastern Island Sounds and Ronnie's Place, both in Nashville.

Album information

Old Yellow Moon is the latest of many collaborative projects of Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell and the first that ultimately resulted in an entire album. As both artists have stated multiple times, the duet album was being planned for a long time. In the liner notes of Harris' 2007 Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems box set she writes that "we've been talking for 34 years about doing a duet record, and I swear we're going to do it."

Having met nearly 40 years before the release of this album, in 1974, the two started working together almost instantly, by recording the Crowell-penned "Bluebird Wine". The song became the opening number for Harris's 1975 Pieces of the Sky album and has been re-recorded for Old Yellow Moon with slightly altered lyrics and, for a change, Rodney Crowell singing lead.

During 1975, Crowell became part of Harris' backing band "The Hot Band". As such he toured with her and is featured as musician on most of her 1970s and 1980s albums. In addition, Emmylou Harris has recorded roughly 20 Crowell-composed songs over the years, such as "I Ain't Living Long Like This", "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight" and "Till I Gain Control Again". Emmylou returned the favor and can be heard prominently as backing vocalist and musician on Crowell's debut LP Ain't Living Long Like This, released in 1978.

The disc was another Top 10 Country album for Harris and won her a 13th Grammy Award in 2014 for "Best Americana Album".

Song information

The first song from Old Yellow Moon that was made available to the public was its opening number "Hanging Up My Heart", which was uploaded to YouTube in December 2012.
For this record, the duo mostly revisits older compositions, such the aforementioned "Bluebird Wine" and the Crowell-penned "Here We Are", which was recorded by Emmylou and George Jones in 1979 for his My Very Special Guests album.
Also included is Roger Miller's "Invitation To The Blues", which was a US Country top-3 hit for Ray Price in 1958.
"Spanish Dancer" was written and recorded by Patti Scialfa for her Rumble Doll in 1993. On Old Yellow Moon, the song becomes a typical Emmylou ballad, much like Matraca Berg's 1997 single "Back When We Were Beautiful", in which Emmylou convincingly portrays an aging woman.
"Open Season on My Heart", partly written by Crowell, was previously recorded in 2004 by Tim McGraw for his album Live Like You Were Dying.
"Chase The Feeling", which together with "Black Caffeine" offers a somehow different and "harder" sound compared to the album's other tracks, was penned by Kris Kristofferson and released on his 2006 album This Old Road.
"Dreaming My Dreams" was written by Allen Reynolds, who produced a couple of albums for Emmylou Harris on the early 1990s: the much acclaimed Cowgirl's Prayer and At the Ryman. Originally "Dreaming My Dreams With You", the song was a top 10 hit for Waylon Jennings and provided the title to his twenty-second album.
"Bull Rider" was written by Crowell for Johnny Cash, who recorded it for his 1979 album Silver. When released on single in 1980, the song eventually reached number 66 on the US Country charts.
The album's title track is yet another composition by Hank DeVito, another member of Harris's "Hot Band" from the 1970s.

Track listing

Personnel

Emmylou Harris – vocals, acoustic guitar, tambourine
Rodney Crowell – vocals, acoustic guitar

Additional musicians

Brian Ahern – acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, electric baritone guitar
James Burton – electric guitar
Chad Cromwell – drums
Dennis Crouch – bass
Stuart Duncan – banjo, fiddle, mandolin
Larry Franklin – fiddle
Paul Franklin – steel guitar
Vince Gill – classical guitar, vocals
Marco Giovani – drums
Emory Gordy Jr. – bass
Glen Hardin – electric piano
John Hobbs – piano
Jim Hoke – accordion
Jedd Hughes – electric guitar
David Hungate – double bass, bass guitar
John Jorgenson – electric guitar, mandolin
Lynn Langham – piano
Bill Payne – Hammond B-3 organ, piano
Mickey Raphael – bass harmonica
Michael Rhodes – bass
Steuart Smith – electric slide guitar, electric guitar, mandocello
Tommy Spurlock – steel guitar
John Ware – drums
Reese Wynans – piano

Recording staff

Brian Ahern – producer
Shannon Ahern – production assistant
Chuck Ainlay – engineer
John Baldwin – assistant engineer
Donivan Cowart – engineer
Bob Ludwig – mastering engineer
Noland O'Boyle – assistant engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

::data[format=table] | Chart (2013) | Peak position | Irish Albums (IRMA) | |---|---|---| | 33 | | | ::

Year-end charts

::data[format=table]

Chart (2013)	Position	US Top Country Albums (Billboard)
60
::

Release history

::data[format=table title="Release history and formats for ''Old Yellow Moon''"]

Region	Date	Format	Label	Ref.	North America
February 26, 2013		Nonesuch Records
::

References

"Emmylou Harris | Nonesuch Records". Nonesuch.com.
Old Yellow Moon, booklet
Emmylou Harris (2007): Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems (box set), booklet
Whitaker, Sterling. "2014 Grammy Awards – Country Winners List".
"Top 100 Artist Album, Week Ending 7 March 2013". [[GfK Chart-Track]].
"Top Country Albums – Year-End 2013". Billboard.
(February 26, 2013). "''Old Yellow Moon'' (Liner Notes)". [[Nonesuch Records]].
"''Old Yellow Moon'' by Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell".

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