Diamonds & Dirt

1	Crazy Baby 3:06
2	I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried 3:18
3	She's Crazy for Leaving 3:16
4	After All This Time 4:28
5	I Know You're Married 3:31
6	Above and Beyond (The Call of Love) / Michael Rhodes 2:28
7	It's Such a Small World 3:21
8	I Didn't Know That I Could Lose You 3:21
9	Brand New Rag 3:07
10	The Last Waltz 5:21
11	I've Got My Pride But I Got to Feed the Kids previously unreleased;Bonus Track 2:28
12	It's Lonely Out previously unreleased;Bonus Track 3:40
13	Lies Don't Lie previously unreleased;Bonus Track 3:04

Barnes & Noble

Rodney Crowell had already been making excellent albums for a decade when Diamonds & Dirt made him an honest-to-goodness country star in 1988. The landmark album yielded no less than five No. 1 singles, making its success a watershed event in the much-vaunted new-traditionalist movement. The album was fully deserving of the commercial breakthrough, melding Lennon-and-McCartneyesque melodicism to hard country rhythms in support of lyrics as cutting and incisive as Hank Williams's. Thirteen years later, Diamonds & Dirt sounds as warm, witty and wise as ever. "She's Crazy for Leaving" boasts one of modern country's wackiest lyrics; "After All This Time" one of its most touching; and the duet with then-wife Rosanne Cash, "It's Such a Small World," is of a piece with the fierce musical passion of such classic country duos such as Porter and Dolly, Loretta and Conway, and George and Tammy. It's hard to improve upon perfection, but this expanded edition does the trick by adding three bonus tracks. David McGee

All Music Guide

Of the four records Rodney Crowell cut under his name before 1988's Diamonds & Dirt, three of them are still regarded as classics of the progressive country genre. The Houston native was well established as a songwriter (Emmylou Harris cut a slew of Crowell songs on her first five records), producer, and performer. Along with then-wife Rosanne Cash, he brought elements of new wave and early rock & roll into the genre, giving it a much needed kick in the rear. But as good as those albums were, Diamonds & Dirt put him on the map for good. In the 21st century, Crowell makes his living primarily as a hit songwriter, though he still records independently, cutting one critically acclaimed album after another. Co-produced by Crowell and Tony Brown, Diamonds & Dirt yielded five chart-topping singles, including "It's Such a Small World," a duet with Cash (who provided backing vocals throughout the set); a burning rockabilly version of pal Guy Clark's "She's Crazy for Leavin'"; the switchblade swagger of "Crazy Baby" (which sounds like Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe backing Jerry Lee Lewis); and the stellar ballad "After All This Time." That said, there is something else afoot here, too. A listen to "I Know You're Married" reveals that Crowell was a real fan of the early Beatles, and, on "I Didn't Know That I Could Lose You," of Roy Orbison. The only other cover on the set is a stellar swaggering honky tonk cum pub rock version of Harlan Howard's "Above and Beyond (The Call of Love)," which could have been recorded by England's Brinsley Schwarz. The remastered Legacy version of the album also includes three previously unreleased demos from the Diamonds & Dirt sessions and a wonderfully intimate set of liner notes. For contemporary country fans, this disc is such an important part of the development of modern music that it has virtually influenced everything that's come after it, making it impossible to ignore. Thom Jurek