Rodney Crowell (6,968 views)

[Rodney Blazershorts]

Vocal Range: F♯2-E5
Years Active: 1972-present
Associated Acts: Emmylou Harris's Hot Band, The (Notorious) Cherry Bombs, The Cicadas

Significant High Notes:
E5 ("Elvira")
E♭5 ("Just Wanta Dance")
D5 ("The Last Waltz")
C5 ("Elvira", "The Girl on the Street", "Ridin' Out the Storm")
B4 ("She Loves the Jerk" "You're Supposed to Be Feeling Good")
B♭4 ("Brown & Root, Brown & Root", "Let Freedom Ring", "She Loves the Jerk", "When the Blue Hour Comes")
A4 ("Ballad of Fast Eddie", "Brand New Rag", "The Obscenity Prayer (Give It to Me)", "Only Two Hearts", "Stay (Don't Be Cruel)")
G♯4 ("Bluebird Wine" Heartworn Highways, "Blues in the Daytime", "Elvira", "I Know You're Married", "I've Got My Pride But I Got to Feed the Kids", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Let Freedom Ring", "Say You Love Me" 2005 version, "She Ain't Going Nowhere", "'Til I Gain Control Again", "We Want Everything", "When the Blue Hour Comes")
G4 ("All You've Got to Do", "Alone But Not Alone", "Ballad of Fast Eddie", "Blonde Ambition", "Bluebird Wine" 2013 version, "Les Blues de Bosco", "Crazy Baby", "I Ain't Living Long Like This", "It's Such a Small World", "The Last Waltz", "Life Without Susanna", "Now That We're Alone", "One Little Bird", "Only Two Hearts", "She Loves the Jerk", "She's Crazy for Leaving", "Silent Night", "Tobacco Road", "U Don't Know How Much I Hate U", "We Gotta Go on Meeting Like This", "We Want Everything")
F♯4 ("Above and Beyond (The Call of Love)", "Ain't Living Long Like This" Acoustic Classics, "Ain't No Money", "Alone But Not Alone", "Better Start Turning Them Down", "Christmas in Vidor", "Don't Leave Me Now", "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I", "Forty Winters", "Heartbroke", "Jambalaya", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Just Wanta Dance", "Looking for You", "No Memories Hanging Round", "Once in a While", "Past Like a Mask", "She's Crazy for Leaving", "Somebody Loves You", "We Gotta Go on Meeting Like This", "When the Blue Hour Comes")
F4 ("Ballad of Fast Eddie", "Blonde Ambition", "Come Sundown", "Dangerous Curves", "Dark Angel", "Don't Need No Other Now", "Faith Is Mine", "Here Comes the 80s", "I Thought I Heard You Callin' My Name", "If Looks Could Kill", "Invitation to the Blues", "It's Not for Me to Judge", "It's Such a Small World", "Jesus Talk to Mama", "Just Pleasing You" 2012 version, "Let the Picture Paint Itself", "Let's Skip Christmas This Year", "Life Is Messy", "Looking Forward to the Past", "The Man in Me", "Maybe Next Time", "My Past Is Present", "Nothin' for a Broken Heart", "Nothing", "Oh King Richard", "Ooh Las Vegas", "Only Two Hearts", "Past Like a Mask", "Say You Love Me" 1995 version, "She's Crazy for Leaving" Acoustic Classics, "Silent Night", "A Song for the Life", "Soul Searchin'", "Stay (Don't Be Cruel)", "Through With the Past", "Tobacco Road", "Voilá, An American Dream", "Wait a Minute", "We Want Everything", "Why Don't We Talk About It", "You're Supposed to Be Feeling Good")
E4 ("After All This Time", "The Answer Is Yes", "Ashes by Now", "Back When We Were Beautiful", "The Ballad of Possum Potez", "Banks of Old Bandera", "The Best I Can", "The Best Years of Our Lives", "Better Start Turning Them Down", "Bluebird Wine" Heartworn Highways, "Brand New Rag", "Chase the Feeling", "Christmas in Vidor", "Closer to Heaven", "Come on Funny Feelin'", "Come Sundown", "Crazy Baby", "Dark Angel", "Don't Need No Other Now", "East Houston Blues", "Elvira", "Faith Is Mine", "Give My Heart a Rest", "Hard Time Movin' On", "I Don't Have to Crawl", "I Guess We've Been Together for Too Long", "I Still Miss Someone", "I Thought I Heard You Callin' My Name", "I've Got My Pride But I Got to Feed the Kids", "If I Ever Break Your Heart", "It Don't Get Better Than This", "The Ladder of Love", "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight" Acoustic Classics, "Let Freedom Ring", "Life Without Susana", "Like a Rolling Stone", "Love to Burn", "Loving You Makes Me Strong", "Making Memories of Us" 2004 version, "Maybe Next Time", "My Baby's Gone", "Nothin' for a Broken Heart", "Now That We're Alone", "Oh, What a Feeling", "Old Yellow Moon", "On a Real Good Night", "On the Surface", "Please Remember Me", "Queen of Hearts", "Rachel", "Ride of the Redlegs", "The Rose of Memphis", "Shake Your Money Maker", "She Ain't Going Nowhere", "She's Crazy for Leaving", "Shelter from the Storm", "Spanish Dancer", "Still Learning How to Fly", "Sweet Dreams", "Sweet Little Lisa", "Talking to a Stranger", "Telephone Road", "That Ol' Door", "This Body Isn't All There Is to Who I Am", "This Too Will Pass", "Through With the Past", "'Til I Gain Control Again", "Treetop Slim & Billy Lowgrass", "Weight of the World", "When Losers Rule the World", "When the Fat Guy Tries the Chimney on for Size", "Who Do You Trust")
E♭4 ("56 Fury", "All Through Throwing Good Love After Bad", "Banks of the Old Bandera", "Bluebird Wine" 2013 version, "Chase the Feeling", "Crimson Underground", "Dancin' Circles 'Round the Sun (Epictetus Speaks)", "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", "Famous Last Words of a Fool in Love", "Forty Miles from Nowhere", "Frankie Please", "Higher Mountains", "God I'm Missing You", "Here We Are", "Highway 17", "I Ain't Living Long Like This", "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried", "I Don't Fall in Love So Easy", "I Just Wanted to See You", "I'll Be Your San Antone Rose", "I'll Show Me", "I'm a Mess", "If the Law Don't Want You", "If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Now", "It's Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night That Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long", "Jambalaya", "Just Pleasing You" 2012 version, "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight" Acoustic Classics, "Long Hard Road (A Sharecropper's Dream", "Lovin' All Night", "Loving You Is the Only Way to Fly", "Making Memories of Us" Acoustic Classics, "My Baby's Gone", "Nobody's Gonna Tear My Playhouse Down", "The Obscenity Prayer (Give It to Me)", "Poncho & Lefty", "Sex & Gasoline", "Somebody's Shadow", "Something Has to Change", "Standing on a Rock", "Topsy Turvy", "Treetop Slim & Billy Lowgrass", "Wait a Minute", "When Losers Rule the World", "World So Full of Love", "You're Still on My Mind")
D4 ("56 Fury", "Anything But Tame", "Beautiful Despair", "Big Heart", "The Border", "Bring It on Home to Memphis", "Brown & Root, Brown & Root", "Bull Rider", "Candy Man", "Caw Caw Blues", "Christmas Makes Me Sad", "Dangerous Fun", "Le Danse de la Joie", "Don't Get Me Started", "Ever the Dark", "Father's Advice", "Heavenly Days", "I'll Be Your San Antone Rose", "I'm Tied to Ya", "Invitation to the Blues", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Just Pleasing You" 2015 version, "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight", "Let It Roll, Let It Ride", "The Long Journey Home", "Lucky", "The Night's Just Right", "Nod Over Coffee", "Once in a While", "One Little Bird", "Open Season on My Heart", "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)", "Ready to Move On", "The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design", "Say You Love Me", "Sex & Gasoline", "Silent Night", "Somebody's Shadow", "Sweet Dreams", "Telephone Road", "Texas Drought, Pt. 1", "Things That Go Bump in the Day", "Triage", "We Can't Turn Back Now", "Weight of the World", "You're Only Happy When You're Miserable")

Significant Low Notes
E3 ("Above and Beyond (The Call of Love)", "An American Dream" Circlin' Back - Celebrating 50 Years with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, "The Ballad of Possum Potez", "Crazy Baby", "Dancin' Circles 'Round the Sun (Epictetus Speaks)", "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried", "I Still Miss Someone", "I Thought I Heard You Calling My Name", "I Want You #35", "If I Ever Break Your Heart", "If the Law Don't Want You", "Invitation to the Blues", "Ooh Las Vegas", "Ready to Move On", "Say You Love Me" 1995 version, "Silent Night", "Soul Searchin'", "Tell Me the Truth", "This Too Will Pass", "Through With the Past", "Tobacco Road", "When I'm Free Again", "When Losers Rule the World", "When the Fat Guy Tries the Chimney on for Size")
E♭3 ("Above and Beyond (The Call of Love)", "After All This Time", "Ballad of a Teenage Queen", "Come on Funny Feelin'", "Come Sundown", "Dreaming My Dreams", "East Houston Blues", "Fate's Right Hand", "The Girl on the Street", "God I'm Missing You", "I Can't Resist", "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried" Acoustic Classics, "I Know You're Married", "I've Got My Pride But I Got to Feed the Kids", "It's Lonely Out", "Jewel of the South", "Just Pleasing You" 2015 version, "The Ladder of Love", "Learning the Game", "Let It Roll, Let It Ride", "Love to Burn", "Many a Long & Lonesome Highway", "My Baby's Gone", "Oklahoma Dust", "On the Surface", "The Real Me", "The Rose of Memphis", "She Loves the Jerk", "She's Crazy for Leaving", "Shelter from the Storm", "Stars on the Water", "Still Learning How to Fly", "Telephone Road", "That Ol' Door", "That'll Be the Day", "'Til I Gain Control Again", "U Don't Know How Much I Hate U", "Wait a Minute")
D3 ("56 Fury", "Alone But Not Alone", "Big Heart", "Bluebird Wine" Heartworn Highways, "Bring It on Home to Memphis", "Bull Rider", "California Earthquake (A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On)", "Christmas for the Blue", "Dangerous Curves", "Desperados Waiting for a Train", "The Flyboy and the Kid", "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I", "Forgive Me Annabelle", "Give My Heart a Rest", "Glasgow Girl", "I Want You #35", "I've Done Everything I Can", "If Looks Could Kill", "It's a Different World Now", "Just Wanta Dance", "The Ladder of Love", "The Last Waltz", "Life Without Susanna", "Long Time Girl Gone By", "Lovin' All Night" Acoustic Classics, "Loving You Makes Me Strong", "Making Lovers Out of Friends", "Mama's Hungry Eyes", "The Man in Me", "Many a Long & Lonesome Highway", "Momma's on a Roll", "Moving Work of Art", "The Night's Just Right", "Nobody's Gonna Tear My Playhouse Down", "Old Yellow Moon", "On a Real Good Night", "The One About England", "Ride of the Redlegs", "Say You Love Me" 2005 version, "Shame on the Moon", "She Loves the Jerk", "Spanish Dancer", "Sweet Little Lisa", "Thinking About Leaving", "Topsy Turvy", "Triage", "What Kind of Love", "Wish You Were Her", "You Been on My Mind", "You're Still on My Mind")
C♯3 ("Ain't Living Long Like This" Acoustic Classics, "Ballad of Fast Eddie", "The Ballad of Possum Potez", "The Best Years of Our Lives", "Bluebird Wine" Heartworn Highways, [/u][/font], "Christmas Everywhere", "Christmas Makes Me Sad", "Come Christmas", "Crimson Underground", "Deep in the Heart of Uncertain Texas", "Don't Get Me Started", "Earthbound", "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I", "Forty Miles from Nowhere", "Hanging Up My Heart", "Heartbroke", "I Don't Fall in Love So Easy", "I Know You're Married", "I Thought I Heard You Calling My Name", "I Walk the Line (Revisited)", "I'll Show Me", "I'm Tied to Ya", "It's Not for Me to Judge", "It's Such a Small World", "Let the Picture Paint Itself", "Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper's Song)" unspecified live clip with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, "The Long Journey Home", "Looking for You", "Loving You Makes Me Stronger", "Mama's Hungry Eyes", "The Obscenity Prayer (Give It to Me)", "Oh, What a Beautiful World", "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)", "The Outsider", "Past Like a Mask", "Poncho & Lefty", "The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design", "Say You Love Me" 1995 version, "She's Crazy for Leaving" Acoustic Classics, "Stars on the Water", "Still Learning How to Fly", "Stuff That Works", "Talking to a Stranger", "Texas Drought, Pt. 1", "Things That Go Bump in the Day", "Thinking About Leaving", "'Til I Gain Control Again", "You Can't Say We Didn't Try", "You're Running Wild")
C3 ("Adam's Song", "All Through Throwing Good Love After Bad", "All You've Got to Do", "Ashes by Now", "Back When We Were Beautiful", "Bull Rider", "California Earthquake (A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On)", "Crimson Underground", "Dark Angel", "Don't Let Your Feet Slow You Down", "Elvira", "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", "Ever the Dark", "The Flyboy and the Kid", "Forty Winters", "Grandma Loved That Old Man", "Her Hair Was Red", "Here We Are", "I Ain't Living Long Like This", "I Don't Care Anymore", "I Don't Have to Crawl", "I'll Be Your San Antone Rose", "If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home by Now", "Just Say Yes", "The Last Waltz", "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight", "Let It Roll, Let It Ride", "Let's Make Trouble", "Let's Skip Christmas This Year", "Lies Don't Lie", "Life Is Messy", "Love to Burn", "Making Lovers Out of Friends", "Merry Christmas from an Empty Bed", "Nashville 1972", "Nothing", "Now That We're Alone", " Old Yellow Moon", "On a Real Good Night", "Once in a While", "Our Little Town", "Preachin' to the Choir", "Reckless", "Ridin' Out the Storm", "The Road to Ruin", "The Rock of My Soul", "Still Learning How to Fly" 2003 version, "Stuff That Works", "Talking to a Stranger", "Tell Me the Truth", "Things I Wish I'd Said", "Tobacco Road", "The Traveling Kind", "Triage", "Truth Decay", "We Can't Turn Back Now", "We Gotta Go on Meeting Like This", "When the Blue Hour Comes", "Wish You Were Her", "You Been on My Mind", "You're Only Happy When You're Miserable")
B2 ("Ballad of Fast Eddie", "The Best Years of Our Lives", "Black Caffeine", "Bluebird Wine" 2013 version, "Brown & Root, Brown & Root", "California Earthquake (A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On)", "Caw Caw Blues", "Christmas in New York", "Come Christmas", "Come on Funny Feelin'", "Don't Leave Me Now", "Earthbound", "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", "Father's Advice", "Forty Winters", "Give My Heart a Rest", "Heartbroke", "Heavenly Days", "Here Goes Nothing", "I Hardly Know How to Be Myself", "I Know Love Is All I Need", "I'm All About Love", "Ignorance Is the Enemy", "Jewel of the South", "Just Pleasing You" 2015 version, "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight" Acoustic Classics, "Let the Picture Paint Itself", "Let's Make Trouble", "Lies Don't Lie", "Life Without Susanna", "Long Hard Road (A Sharecropper's Dream)", "Looking Forward to the Past", "Loving You Is the Only Way to Fly", "Lucky", "The Man in Me", "Maybe Next Time", "Moving Work of Art", "No Memories Hanging Round", "Oh, What a Beautiful World", "Open Season on My Heart", "The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design", "A Song for the Life", "That Ol' Door", "Truth Decay", "Victim or a Fool", "Wandering Boy")
B♭2 ("After All This Time" Acoustic Classics, "Ain't Living Long Like This Acoustic Classics, "Anything But Tame", "Beautiful Disaster", "Better Start Turning Them Down", "The Border", "Closer to Heaven", "Dangerous Fun", "Le Danse de la Joie", "Fever on the Bayou", "Forgive Me Annabelle", "Funky and the Farm-Boy", "Glasgow Girl", "Grandma Loved That Old Man", "Her Hair Was Red", "Here Goes Nothing", "Highway 17", "Hymn #43", "I Didn't Know That I Could Lose You", "I Don't Fall in Love So Easy", "I've Done Everything I Can", "Ignorance Is the Enemy", "It Doesn't Hurt Right Now", "It's a Different World Now", "It's Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night That Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long", "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight", "Lucky", "Making Memories of Us" Acoustic Classics, "Nothing", "The Obscenity Prayer (Give It to Me)", "The One About England", "One Little Bird", "Please Remember Me", "Preachin' to the Choir", "Reckless", "The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design", "The Road to Ruin", "She Ain't Going Nowhere", "Sweet Dreams", "Tennessee Wedding", "This Body Isn't All There Is to Who I Am", "Very Merry Christmas", "We Can't Turn Back Now", "Who Do You Trust", "Why Don't We Talk About It", "World So Full of Love", "You Been on My Mind")
A2 ("Adam's Song", "Banks of Old Bandera", "Beautiful World" Daytrotter Session 2011, "Do You Understand Your Man" Johnny Cash Memorial Tribute Concert[/font], "Don't Leave Me Now", "God I'm Missing You", "Hungry for Home", "I Didn't Know That I Could Lose You", "I Hardly Know How to Be Myself", "I Know Love Is All I Need", "I'll Show Me", "It Don't Get Better Than This", "It's Hard to Kiss the Lips at Night That Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long", "Life Is Messy", "Making Memories of Us" 2004 version, "Merry Christmas from an Empty Bed", "Nashville 1972", "The Night's Just Right", "One Little Bird", "Que es amor (What Is Love)", "Ridin' Out the Storm", "Still Learning How to Fly" Live at Belfast Opera House, "That Old Time Feeling", "Things That Go Bump in the Day", "Through With the Past", "Time to Go Inward", "Transient Global Amnesia Blues", "The Traveling Kind", "Wandering Boy", "You're Supposed to Be Feeling Good")
G♯2 ("The Border", "Dreaming My Dreams", "Famous Last Words of a Fool in Love", "Forty Miles from Nowhere", "Highway 17", "I Hardly Know How to Be Myself", "I Hope You Shed a Million Tears", "I Wish It Would Rain", "I'll Show Me", "It Ain't Over Yet", "It's a Different World Now", "Jewel of the South" Daytrotter Session 2011, "No Place to Fall", "Nod Over Coffee", "Open Season on My Heart", "Please Remember Me", "Ridin' Out the Storm" Nashville 4/2/2003, "Shame on the Moon Redux", "Shelter from the Storm", "That Old Time Feeling", "'Til I Can Gain Control Again" Live at Belfast Opera House, "Time to Go Inward", "Transient Global Amnesia Blues", "Treetop Slim & Billy Lowgrass", "When the Fat Guy Tries the Chimney on for Size", "You Can't Say We Didn't Try")
G2 ("Adam's Song", "Anything But Tame" Acoustic Classics + Daytrotter Session 2012, "Beautiful World" Daytrotter Session 2011, "Brown & Root, Brown & Root", "Christmas in Vidor", "Famous Last Words of a Fool in Love", "Ignorance Is the Enemy", "Nashville 1972", "The Rock of My Soul", "Shame on the Moon Redux")
F♯2 ("Black Caffeine", "Father's Advice", "God I'm Missing You", "Hungry for Home" Daytrotter Session 2012, "I Wouldn't Be Me Without You", "Just Pleasing You" Daytrotter Session 2012)
.......................................................
*Blue marks soft falsetto.
*Italics mark non-sung notes.
*Underlines may mark notes in backing vocals or notes obscured in the song mix.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Discography}
1979: Ain't Living Long Like This - B♭2-G♯4-E5
1980: But What Will the Neighbors Think - B♭2-F♯4-G♯4
1981: Rodney Crowell - B♭2-G♯4-E♭5
1986: Street Language - B2-B4
1988: Diamonds & Dirt - A2-A4-D5
1989: Keys to the Highway - B♭2-G4
1992: Life Is Messy G♯2-F♯4-G4
1994: Let the Picture Paint Itself - B♭2-F♯4
1995: Jewel of the South - G♯2-F4
2001: The Houston Kid - G2-G4
2003: Fate's Right Hand - G2-E4-C5
2005: The Outsider - G2-A2-G♯4-A4
2008: Sex & Gasoline - A2-F♯4
2012: Kin: Songs by Mary Karr & Rodney Crowell - F♯2-A2-F4
2013: Old Yellow Moon (with Emmylou Harris) - F♯2-G4
2014: Tarpaper Sky - F♯2-F4
2015: The Travelling Kind (with Emmylou Harris) - G♯2-F♯4
2017: Close Ties - F♯2-G4
2018: Acoustic Classics - G2-G4
2018: Christmas Everywhere - G2-G♯2-F♯4
2019: Texas - G2-E4-B♭4
2021: Triage - G♯2-F♯4-C5
2023: The Chicago Session - G♯2-F4-B4

The Cicadas
1997: The Cicadas - (A2-G4-G♯4)

The Notorious Cherry Bombs
2004: The Notorious Cherry Bombs - (A2-F4)

A legendary country singer/songwriter, Crowell got his start as a songwriter and vocalist in Emmylou Harris's Hot Band before releasing his underappreciated but influential debut record Ain't Living Long Like This in 1979. Despite penning a number of hit records for some huge country stars, Crowell's solo career progressed modestly until he would set an all-time record by releasing five consecutive #1 hits from his 1988 album Diamonds & Dust. Briefly one of the biggest starts in the genre, Crowell would spend the following years more occasionally flirting with charts success as the ever-changing sound of commercial Nashville passed him by. After a brief hiatus from recording, Crowell's 2001 release The Houston Kid saw a career resurgence akin to those of his idol Johnny Cash and cohort Emmylou Harris (Crowell's return to the spotlight was in fact a duet with former father-in-law Cash on a reworking of "I Walk the Line"). Since then, a steady stream of albums has marked Crowell as a foremost icon of Americana and progressive country.