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Track Listing 1. Soldier's Joy, A - (with Vince Gill) 2. It's Only Love - (with Mary Chapin Carpenter) 3. I Wanna Be Loved Back - (with Trisha Yearwood) 4. Amie - (featuring Travis Tritt) 5. Travel On - (with Bruce Hornsby/Lee Roy Parnell) 6. City of New Orleans - (with John Prine) 7. Wildwood Flower - (featuring Emmylou Harris/Iris DeMent) 8. Lonesome Ruben - (with Earl Scruggs/Jerry Douglas) 9. Passin' Thru - (with Joan Osborne) 10. My Secret Life - (with Rosanne Cash) 11. Crown of Jewels - (with Bruce Hornsby) 12. Both Sides Now
Album Notes Personnel includes: Randy Scruggs (vocals, guitar); Travis Tritt, Emmylou Harris, Iris DeMent, Bruce Hornsby, John Prine (vocals); John Hiatt, Matraca Berg, Amy Grant (background vocals); Vince Gill, Joan Osborne, Trisha Yearwood, Lee Roy Parnell, Rosanne Cash, Sam Bush, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Gary Chapman, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Jeff Hanna, Delbert McClinton, Roger McGuinn, Tammy Rogers, Earl Scruggs, Harry Stinson, Marty Stuart. All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology. "A Soldier's Joy" won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance. "Lonesome Ruben" was nominated for the same award. CROWN OF JEWELS is aptly named--every track is a gem. Randy Scruggs, son of legendary banjo player Earl Scruggs, is a top songwriter, producer and instrumentalist who's worked with, well, everyone. For CROWN OF JEWELS, he called in favors right and left to assemble an all-star cast, and they've created what sounds like the world's hippest country/rock mix tape. Guests include Trisha Yearwood, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Vince Gill, Travis Tritt, Rosanne Cash, Bruce Hornsby, Joan Osborne and John Prine. Much of the material is brand new, but even old chestnuts like "Amie" and "Wildwood Flower" get new spins--the latter song is the first recorded duet between Emmylou Harris and Iris Dement, for example. A definite highlight is the Dylanesque rocker "Passin' Through," a duet between Scruggs and Osborne. But CROWN OF JEWELS truly shines on the instrumental tracks ("Travel On," "A Soldier's Joy"), which feature players whose sheer virtuosity will have your jaw dropping in amazement.
Industry Reviews Who knew that Earl's son--a producer and multi-instrumentalist--could sing? Joan Osborne, Rosanne Cash, Lee Roy Parnell, Bruce Hornsby, and others...join him here for a stylistically schizophrenic, but mostly thrilling melding of talent... - Rating: B+ Entertainment Weekly (08/07/1998)
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