Mark Knopfler

The pairing of these idiosyncratic and iconic singers outshines anything either has done in recent memory. Knopfler's normally flinty edges are blunted and less anxious once Emmylou Harris fits her sparse, bare harmonies around them, and her perfectly articulated and understated phrasing elevates the guitarist's restless travelogue of moving from place to place, in and out of love, subverting time and space. With Harris riding shotgun, the journey is far more interesting than the destination.