The Traveling Kind
The Traveling Kind is a 2015 studio album from American roots musicians Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris, their second collaboration after 2013's Old Yellow Moon. The album has received praise from critics. The duo managed to record this album more quickly than their former release, but took longer composing original songs, rather than focusing on cover versions, as with their last album.[1][2]
Reception[edit]
Editorial staff at AnyDecentMusic? aggregate reviews for this album at 7.3 out of 10, with nine reviews.[3] Editors at AllMusic Guide gave The Traveling Kind 3.5 out of five stars, with reviewer Mark Deming noting "Harris' sweet, firm, very human tone as well as Crowell's outwardly cocky but inwardly perceptive voice, and the sweet and sour push and pull complements them both".[4] John Paul of PopMatters scored this release an eight out of 10, praising the alternating moods of the lyrics and the musicians' sense of identity in the country music tradition, summing up, that there is "no better vocal pairing working today".[5] Paste's Holly Gleason rated The Traveling Kind an 8.5 out of 10, also noting the diverse feelings present in the lyrics.[6] In Rolling Stone, Corinne Cummings gave this release three out of five stars, noting that "their creative partnership sounds stronger than ever".[7] For NPR's First Listen, Jewly Hight notes that the musicians "draw out the best in each other".[8]
Jim Beviglia of American Songwriter scored the album four out of five stars, repeatedly noting how well the two musicians complement one another.[9] Maeri Ferguson of Glide Magazine rated The Traveling Kind eight out of 10, opining that "the songs on this record sound like they just flowed out of them like the most natural thing in the world".[10] For The Arts Desk, Thomas H. Green compares this release favorably to the duo's last collaboration, calling this "perhaps more spirited, and certainly a match for anything in either singer's recent solo back catalogue"; he rated it four out of five stars.[11] In The Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot scored this album three out of four, noting a strength of this release over Old Yellow Moon is the introduction of new songs over cover versions.[1] Elysa Gardner of USA Today scored The Traveling Kind 3.5 out of four stars, also praising the new compositions, as well as Harris' vocal strengths and the production work of Joe Henry.[12]