About Emmylou Harris

At first glance, Emmylou Harris seems the unlikeliest of honky-tonk angels. She cuts an almost ethereal presence—waif-thin with china-doll features and long locks faded to burnished silver, the mournful phrasing of her immaculate soprano whispering with the clarity of a crystal figurine. Surely a woman of such delicacy would quickly be trampled flat by the roving packs of jackals populating the music industry. Yet for more than 30 years, Harris has gracefully commanded a starring role in the country rock universe, from her early recordings with bad-boy genius Gram Parsons through her genre-defining Trio albums with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, to her current status as a matriarch of Americana. Indeed, it turns out this wildflower has a backbone of steel.

Harris grew up in Woodbridge, Virginia, where she was a high school cheerleader, class valedictorian, and beauty pageant queen. She briefly attended the University of North Carolina on a dramatic scholarship, but soon wandered north to Greenwich Village, honing her musical voice with such fellow travelers as David Bromberg and Jerry Jeff Walker. After a brief marriage and an unsuccessful debut album (Gliding Bird, in 1970), she returned to northern Virginia to regroup.

In 1971, while performing at a Washington, D.C., club called Clyde’s, Harris attracted the attention of country-rock icons the Flying Burrito Brothers, which then included Parsons. Harris proved the perfect foil for Gram’s enigmatic country rock fusion and provided a gentle stability to his trailblazing solo LPs, GP (1972) and Grievous Angel (1973). Just weeks after the Grievous Angel sessions ended, however, Parsons died of a heroin overdose.

A few months later, Harris assembled her own band, signed with Reprise and released her solo debut, 1975’s Pieces Of The Sky, produced (as were her next 10 records) by her soon-to-be second husband, Brian Ahern. Harris’ second LP, 1976’s Elite Hotel, featured the first of Harris’s Hot Bands, which have served over the years as fertile proving grounds for up-and-coming country stars, including Rodney Crowell and Ricky Scaggs. During the late ‘70s, Harris blossomed, guest-starring on Bob Dylan’s Desire and the Band’s The Last Waltz, winning the Best Female Country Grammy for Blue Kentucky Girl (1979) and releasing a pure acoustic bluegrass album, Roses in the Snow (1980).

By 1982, both the Hot Band and her marriage to Ahern had disintegrated, and Harris retreated to Nashville, eventually releasing such subtle, mature works as 1985’s The Ballad of Sally Rose and 1987’s Angel Band. By 1987, Harris had also realized a decade-long dream, teaming with Parton and Ronstadt for Trio, her best-selling album to date.

Surprisingly, in the mid-‘90s, Harris struck out on what may be the most adventurous trek of her three-decade-plus career. Beginning with 1995’s Wrecking Ball (produced by U2 and Peter Gabriel collaborator Daniel Lanois) and followed by 1998’s Spyboy and 2000’s Red Dirt Girl, Harris pioneered uncharted territories where her country roots intertwined with dream-pop, creating a thoroughly modern and peculiarly beautiful world that she has claimed as her very own. She pushed the button even further mid-decade, collaborating with up-and-comer Conor Oberst, pop icon Elvis Costello, and Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler before releasing her 21st major label studio album, All I Intended To Be, in 2008.