Jamie Lin Wilson and Sunny Sweeney make for quite the talented duo. And when they team up to cover Emmylou Harris, the result is a must-listen for any fan of country music.
The two Texas natives and stalwarts of the Texas country music scene recently teamed up for a beautiful cover of legend Emmylou Harris’ 2000 classic “Red Dirt Girl.”
The title track of Harris’ 19th album of the same name, “Red Dirt Girl” is a lyrical masterpiece in which the narrator laments the death of her best friend and recalls the time they had spent together.
Widely renowned as one of the greatest female songwriters and voices in the history of country music, Harris’ has a deep catalog of classics, but few compare to “Red Dirt Girl.”
And despite the magnitude of the song and the artist who originally sang it, Wilson and Sweeney do the cover plenty of justice. Both artists took to social media to share comments on the cover. Check out what Jamie Lin Wilson had to say about the release below.
“Today’s the day! “Red Dirt Girl” is out and ready for you! Everyone has the song they play first when they pick up a guitar, the song they play for every sound check. This one is mine, for the last 15 years.
I’m headed to Nashville now to go celebrate with Sunny Sweeney in person.”
And without further ado, here is the cover:
That’s a heck of a cover right there.
For anyone who is not familiar with either of these ladies, I highly recommend checking out their original stuff, too. Wilson is a frequent collaborator with the Turnpike Troubadours, having co-written “Oklahoma Stars” with Evan Felker, and is an incredibly talented singer and songwriter in her own right.
The D’Hanis, TX native has two spectacular albums to her name and a slew of equally impressive singles, all of which showcase or top-tier abilities as a storyteller and songwriter.
Check out her song “Death and Life” as an example.
And Sweeney, another Texas country legend, has a deep catalog consisting of lots of singles, an EP, a live album, and five studio albums, including her 2022 record Married Alone.
Having experienced spurts of mainstream success throughout her career and gaining a reputation as one of the best artists in the Texas/Red Dirt scene, Sweeney’s most recent project contains some of the best music she’s thus far in her storied career.
The title track from her most recent project features Vince Gill, and is one of my favorite songs of hers.
And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include the original version of Emmylou Harris’ “Red Dirt Girl.”
“One thing they don’t tell you about the blues
When you got ’em you keep on falling cause there ain’t no bottom
And there ain’t no end, least not for Lillian
Nobody knows when she started her skid
She was only 27 and she had five kids
Could’ve been the whiskey, could’ve been the pills
Could’ve been the dream she was trying to kill
But there won’t be a mention in the news of the world
About the life and the death of a red dirt girl
Named Lillian
Who never got any farther across the line than Meridian
Now the stars still fall on Alabama
Tonight she finally laid
That hammer down without a sound
In the red dirt ground…”
For those of you who aren’t familiar with her music, don’t stop here.
She’s one of the greatest to ever do it.
