Recorded at Jack's Tracks Recording Studio, Nashville, Tennessee.

Personnel: Emmylou Harris (acoustic guitar); Richard Bennett (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandocello, tambourine, percussion); Kieran Kane (guitar, gut-string guitar); Chris Leuzinger (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Al Perkins (steel guitar); Connie Heard (violin); Sam Bush (fiddle); Kris Wilkinson (viola); Grace Bahng (cello); Sam Levine (flute, clarinet); Jay Spell (accordion, piano); Bobby Wood (piano, electric piano, organ); David Hoffner (organ, keyboards); Roy M. "Junior" Husky (acoustic bass); Edgar Meyer (double bass); Larry Atamanuik, Milton Sledge (drums, percussion); Kathy Chiavola, Ashley Cleveland, Trisha Yearwood (hand claps); Sam Bacco (percussion); Alison Krauss, Suzanne Cox (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Mark Miller .

Recording information: Jack's Tracks Recording Studio, Nashville, TN.

Photographer: Tim White .

You've got to know an album that opens with the line "I hear the clock a-tickin'" is going to demonstrate more than a passing interest in the process by which we grow older and, hopefully, wiser. COWGIRL'S PRAYER, Emmylou Harris' 17th studio album, presents its somber meditations on life and love in an appropriately lovely, quiet acoustic setting. The overall mood of this record is adult and reflective, but not melancholy. On the contrary, as she declares on the opening track, Harris adamantly and optimistically believes she still has "A Ways to Go." The album that follows amply supports her claim.

As usual, Harris exploits her encyclopedic knowledge of American music to come up with 11 great numbers, including songs by Tony Joe White ("High Powered Love"), Lucinda Williams ("Crescent City," an homage to New Orleans), Leonard Cohen ("Ballad of a Runaway Horse") and Jesse Winchester ("Thanks to You"). Two standout tracks are among the disc's quietest: David Olney's "Jerusalem Tomorrow," a gospel narrative with a nifty twist, and "Prayer in Open D," a rare Harris original. Alison Krauss, Trisha Yearwood, Al Perkins, and Sam Bush are among the luminaries lending instrumental and vocal support.