Emmylou Harris

At 77 years old, Emmylou Harris has this physical status:

Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, and performer.

She has released scores of albums and singles over the course of her career, including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

She was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. Her work and recordings include appearances as a solo artist, a bandleader, an interpreter of other composers' works, a singer-songwriter, and a backing vocalist and duet partner.

She has worked with many artists.

Early years

Harris comes from a military family with a career. Walter Rutland Harris (1921-1993), her father, and her mother, Eugenia (1921–2014), was a wartime military wife. In 1952, her father was reported missing in action in Korea and spent ten months as a prisoner of war. Harris, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, spent her youth in North Carolina and Woodbridge, Virginia, where she graduated from Gar-Field Senior High School as a class valedictorian. She received a drama scholarship at the University of North Carolina's Greensboro College, where she began to study music and learn the songs of Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez on guitar. She dropped out of college to pursue her musical ambitions and moved to New York City as a waitress to help herself while performing folk songs in Greenwich Village coffeehouses during the 1960s folk music revival. In 1969, she married fellow songwriter Tom Slocum and released her first album, Gliding Bird. Harris and Slocum divorced quickly, and Harris and her newborn daughter Hallie moved in with her parents in Clarksville, Maryland, a suburb between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., D.C.

Harris was soon back to action as part of a trio with Gerry Mule and Tom Guidera. Members of the country rock group the Flying Burrito Brothers saw her perform; former Byrds member Chris Hillman had taken over the band and was impressed by Harris, and she briefly considered joining the Flying Burrito Brothers. Rather, Hillman recommended Gram Parsons, who was looking for a female vocalist to work with on his first solo album, GP. In 1973, Harris appeared in Parsons' band, the Fallen Angels, and the pair shone during vocal harmonies and duets. Parsons and Harris appeared on Grievous Angel, a studio album from the previous year. On September 19, 1973, Parsons died in his hotel room near Joshua Tree National Park from an accidental overdose of drugs and alcohol. Grievous Angel of Parsons was released posthumously in 1974, and three more tracks from his time with Harris were included on another parsons album, Sleepless Nights, in 1976. Live 1973 was one of an album of recorded music from that period, but it was not released until 1982.

Representative Mary Martin of Warner Brothers A&R introduced Harris to Canadian producer Brian Ahern, who released Pieces of the Sky, in 1975 on Reprise Records, who produced her first label debut, Pieces of the Sky. The album was surprisingly diverse, particularly by Nashville standards, including cover versions of the Beatles' "For No One," Merle Haggard's "Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down" and "If I Could Only Win Your Love", as well as Louvin Brothers' "If I Could Only Win Your Love." "Bluebird Wine," a piece by young Texas songwriter Rodney Crowell who was the first in a long line of songwriters whose contributions Harris has championed, was also included in the program. The album was one of the most expensive country records ever made, starring James Burton, Glen Hardin, Ray Pohlman, and Bill Payne, as well as two tracks ("Before Believing" and "Queen of the Silver Dollar") that were cut with the Angel Band. "Too Far Gone," which first charted at No. 2 in the United States, was released as a single. The 73 (a 1979 reissue) reached No. 1 (against No. 1) Harris' first big hit, "If I Could Only Win Your Love," a duet with Herb Pedersen (later a founding member of the Desert Rose Band), peaked at No. 13) and No. 9. 4.

Warner Bros. Records' executive told Harris that if she wanted a hot band, they'll record her. Harris did so, enlisting guitarist James Burton and pianist Glen Hardin, both of whom had performed with Elvis Presley as well as Parsons. Burton was a well-known guitarist who debuted in Ricky Nelson's band in the 1950s, and Hardin was a Cricketer for the Crickets. John Ware, pedal steel guitarist Hank DeVito, and bassist Emory Gordy, Jr., were among the Hot Band members, with whom Harris had performed with Parsons before. Crowell, a singer-songwriter, was enlisted as a rhythm guitarist and duet partner. Due to Burton and Hardin's continuing commitments to Presley's band, Harris' first tour tour started off behind Presley's.

Pieces of the Sky's buzz, according to Elite Hotel, who was released in December 1975, was well-founded. Harris's albums, which largely revolved around a hit single, took their inspiration from the album-oriented rock market, which was surprising for country albums at the time. Tracks such as "Sin City," "Wheels," and "Together Now" were all well-rested against songs like "Together Again," "Sweet Dreams," and "One of These Days" in terms of quality and artistic merit. The Elite Hotel was a No. 2 in the United States. 1 country album and a few others did well enough as a crossover hit with the rock audience. Harris appealed to those who normally opposed the country's pull toward crossover pop singles ("Together Again" and "Sweet Dreams") topped the country charts. In 1976, Elite Hotel received the highest accolade for Female Vocal Performance.

Harris's reputation for guest work remained. Linda Ronstadt, Guy Clark, and Neil Young were among Linda Ronstadt's albums, and Bob Dylan selected her to appear on his Desire album. Harris filmed one of the studio scenes in the Band's "The Last Waltz," singing "Evangeline."

Burton left the Hot Band in 1976 after deciding to remain with Elvis Presley's band, and was replaced by English guitarist Albert Lee. Luxury Liner, which was released in 1977, is one of Harris's most recognizable names. Harris's collection of songs from Chuck Berry ("You Never Can Tell) C'Est La Vie"), Gram Parsons (the title track and "She"), and Kitty Wells ("Making Believe") display a continuity and artistic value to country music that was often ignored at the time. Nonetheless, many fans wanted more original music, so she became known as a cover artist. Despite Top Ten hits including "C'est la Vie" and "Making Believe," the album's most popular song on the album is "Pancho & Lefty," the first recorded cover of Townes Van Zandt's classic "Pancho & Lefty" on this site, which will be a No. 2nd No. In 1983, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard hit number one. Crowell left the Hot Band to pursue a solo career at the age of 1977; his replacement was bluegrass multi-instrumentalist and singer Ricky Skaggs.

Harris's previous three albums' quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town signaled a slight change of direction. The album is largely composed of newly written songs, rather than mixing classic and contemporary, but also from a large variety of writers. Delbert McClinton's book "Two More Bottles of Wine" became Harris' third No. 3 on the Harris Family Trail, to be exact. 1 single; "To Daddy," written by Dolly Parton, went to No. 1. "Easy from Now On" was their third single, and the top ten was a new one. Two songs by Crowell ("I Ain't Living Long Like This" and "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight"), two by songwriter Jesse Winchester ("Defying Gravity" and "My Songbird"), and one by Utah Phillips ("Green Rolling Hills") were included on the album.

Harris married Brian Ahern in January 1977. Meghann, the couple's daughter, was born in 1979. Meghann is Harris' second daughter and also Ahern's second daughter.

Harris recorded and released three studio albums that represented a shift toward traditional culture (at a time when the public was finally adopting a more polished Urban Cowboy sound). In her Grammy Award-winning 1979 album Blue Kentucky Girl, the roots direction was prominent. The album was mainly made up of classic-styled country music based on Loretta Lynn and Kitty Wells' "Save the Last Dance for Me" in the Drifters' "Save the Last Dance for Me" segment. It's one of her best-loved albums, it includes songs from "Everytime You Leave," Willie Nelson's "Sister's Coming Home" and Gram Parsons' signature "Hickory Wind." Wesley Rose expressed particular concern in Harris' recording of "Beneath Still Waters," which became a No. 0 on the charts. 1 was struck.

The Christmas album Light of the Stable was released in 1979; its title track featured backing vocals by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Neil Young, all of whom Harris had worked with regularly since the mid-1970s and with whom she continued to collaborate into the 2000s. Harris delves into country music in the 1980s with the release of Roses in the Snow, which stars Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Albert Lee, Emory Gordy Jr., and Jerry Douglas. Harris's versions of the classic "Wayfaring Stranger" and Paul Simon's "The Boxer" were both strong singles.

Harris & Roy Orbison performed "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again" in 1980. Both the Country and Adult Contemporary charts had the Duet's recording as a top ten hit. They were named by a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. She appeared on Paul Kennerley's concept album The Legend of Jesse James, which also included Levon Helm of the Band, Albert Lee, Charlie Daniels, and Johnny Cash.

Harris's albums debuted on top ten charts in 1981 with a photograph of "Mister Sandman"—again Top ten Country as well as Adult Contemporary—from her Evangeline album. (The album version of the song was a live recording of Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt's Trio session, but neither Parton's nor Ronstadt's record companies would allow their artists' voices to be used on the single, so Harris re-recorded the album, performing all three sections for the single release of the song.) Cimarron, her follow-up album, was also released within the same year.

In 1982, Harris moved to Nashville. With a revival of Donna Summer's "On the Radio," White Shoes in 1983 included an eclectic blend of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" as well as tracks from a diverse group of songwriters, including Hot Band member Sandy Denny and T-Bone Burnett. It was Brian Ahern's last album before All I Want to Be in 2008.

Harris's major-label releases so far featured few of her own songs, but her songwriting abilities were evident with the debut of an experimental album The Ballad of Sally Rose, for which she co-wrote all of the songs. The album was semi-autobiographical, with a strong emphasis on her Parsons friendship. Harris characterized it as a "country opera" and a "huge commercial disaster." Paul Kennerley, the English songwriter and singer on the album "Born to Run" (on Harris' 1981 Cimarron album) and "In My Dreams" (on White Shoes), she co-writer and producer on the album. Kennerley's latest album, Thirteen, was also produced by her. They married in 1985 and divorced in 1993.

Emmylou appeared on A Prairie Home Companion in 1985 and has been a fan favorite ever since.

Harris teamed up with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt in 1987, nearly a decade after their first attempt, to produce a long-anticipated Trio disc. Harris's album was the most commercial success of his career, despite five weeks at No. 1. 1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart (also ranked in the Top 10 on the Pop Albums chart). It has sold multiple million copies and four Top ten Country hits, including "To Know Him Is To Love Him," which reached No. 1 on the charts. 1. The recording was nominated for the coveted Album of the Year Grammy award (given to U2 that year) and the three women were voted for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; the album's Linda Thompson-penned track "Telling Me Lies" reached No. 1; No. 3 Countries, No. Adult Contemporary was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1987 as the Best Country Song in the United States.

Harris also released Angel Band, a traditional gospel band, on which she collaborated with then-rising country star Vince Gill and others, among other things. Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume II, she recorded two songs with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their album in 1989. She spoke during the recording session about her beginnings and how music had changed in a snippet of studio chatter included on one of the tracks.

"Heartbreak Hill" was one of Marty Stuart's contributions to the compilation, which also included contributions from Bonnie Raitt, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, which reached No. 119. "Heaven Only Knows" also ranked 8 on the U.S. country singles chart, and "Heaven Only Knows" debuted at No. 8 on the US charts, with "Heaven Only Knows" debuting at No. 8. Harris's most recent top-twenty chart singles feature him. The following year's Brand New Dance album received favorable reviews, but it came at a time when Harris's chart and airplay fell from there.

Around 1991, she broke The Hot Band and formed a new group of acoustic musicians, including Sam Bush on fiddle, mandolin, and vocals, Larry Atamanuik on drums, Al Perkins on banjo, guitar, Dobro guitar, and vocals, and Jon Randall on guitar, mandolin, and vocals, which she referred to as The Nash Ramblers. In 1992 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, they recorded a Grammy Award-winning live album, which culminated in the transformation of the building into a top concert and event venue. It was her last album for Reprise Records. She has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1992.

Harris began getting less airplay in the 1990s as conventional country radio stations began to shift their attention to the youth-focused "new country" style. As with Brand New Dance, 1993's Cowgirl's Reptiles' first studio album after her move to Elektra Records, was highly lauded, but it was no. 1 in the United States, and its lead single, "High Powered Love," debuted at No. 1 on the charts. She was prompted to change her career in a new direction after being 63.

Emmylou Harris appeared on BBC's Transatlantic Sessions for the first time in 1995; she appeared on seven episodes of joint live performances by several well-known folk and country singers, mainly from Scotland, Ireland, England, and North America.

Harris released Wrecking Ball, one of the decade's best-known albums, starring Daniel Lanois, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan in 1995. Harris's "All My Tears" was included on the album, as well as John Harris' interpretation of the Neil Young-penned title track (Young himself provided guest vocals on two of the album's songs), Steve Earle's "It's "May This Be Love," Anna McGarrigle's "Goin' Back to Harlan" and Gillian Welch's "Orphanage" and Gillian Welch's "Orphanage." Larry Mullen, Jr., of U2B, played drums for the project. The album received virtually no airplay in the United States, but it attracted the attention of alternative rock listeners, many of whom had never listened to her music before.

Harris took her Wrecking Ball tour in 1998, when the live Spyboy was released in Nashville by Nashville composer, songwriter, and guitarist Buddy Miller, as well as two New Orleans musicians, drummer Brady Blade, and bassist-vocalist Daryl Johnson. The album included several of Harris's career hits, including "Boulder to Birmingham," as well as performing songs from Wrecking Ball.

She appeared on Willie Nelson's moody, vocally sparse Teatro album, released by Wrecking Ball producer Lanois in 1998.

Harris performed with Sarah McLachlan's all-woman musical touring festival, where young artists such as Patty Griffin could freely share new experiences and ideas with seasoned performers like Harris and Bonnie Raitt.

Harris introduced Trio 2 with Parton and Ronstadt in January 1999. The album had been released in 1994 but it was unveiled for nearly five years because of record label and staff conflicts, overlapping schedules, and career aspirations of the three artists. Trio 2 was more up-sounding than its predecessor and was awarded Gold. It included their own version of Neil Young's classic "After the Gold Rush," which debuted as a hit music video and received another Grammy award, this one for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions followed Harris and Ronstadt's debut as a duet album later this year. The two stars toured together in favor of the disc. Both albums made it to the top of Billboard's Country Albums chart, and they also did well on the pop chart.

Harris paid tribute to Gram Parsons, her late singing partner, by serving as co-executive producer on Return of the Grievous Angel, an album that brought together more than a dozen artists. On this album's tracks, Harris performed duets with Beck, Sheryl Crow, and the Pretenders.

Harris' solo sequel to Wrecking Ball, Red Dirt Girl, was released by Lanois protégé Malcolm Burn in 2000. The album contained a number of Harris' own compositions for the first time since The Ballad of Sally Rose. The album's sound leaned more toward experimental rock than country, as opposed to Wrecking Ball. Nonetheless, it ranked No. 87. Billboard's Country Albums chart has a 5 on the Billboard's Top 10 as well as a a healthy No. On the pop front, there are 54 on the pop side. Harris received another award from her 13 Grammy nominees in the category of Best Contemporary Folk Album.

On his solo debut, Heartbreaker, Harris also appeared on Tracy Chapman's fifth album, Telling Stories.

Harris appeared in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, an all-star group of traditional country, folk, and blues artists for the T-Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack to the Coen Brothers film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? Multiple CMA, ACM, and Grammy awards were given to the soundtrack. Down from the Mountains, a documentary/concert film, featured the artists performing music from the film and other songs at the Ryman Auditorium. The Down From the Mountain Tour in 2002, Harris and several of the same artists appeared on the road for the Down from the Mountain Tour. Harris completed harmonizing with The Chicks on a song they were recording in the studio, "Godspeed."

In 2003, Harris' sequel to Red Dirt Girl, Stumble into Grace, was released. It was mainly self-penned content like its predecessor. Harris was the founder of the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue in 2004 with Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Buddy Miller, and Patty Griffin. They performed singly and together, as well as exchanged instruments.

Harris appeared in "Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast" on September 9, 2005, a series of concerts simulcast by most American television stations to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Patty Griffin's "Mary" was a hit on Patty Griffin's song "Mary" by Beth Nielsen Chapman and the Dixie Chicks. She also contributed to the soundtrack of Brokeback Mountain, the critically acclaimed 2005 film "A Love That Will Never Grow Old," which was controversially dropped from Oscar discussion due to the insignificant amount of time the song lasted during the film.

Harris performed backup vocals on three tracks in 2005 and Conor Oberst's creation, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, appeared on Bright Eyes. On several dates of Elvis Costello's U.S. tour in July, she appeared alongside Costello and his band on several nights. On the Rhino Entertainment label, The Very Best of Emmylou Harris: Heartaches & Highways, a single-disc retrospective of Harris's career, was also released in July. Harris appeared as a guest vocalist on Neil Young's widely acclaimed Prairie Wind this year. She appeared in Stephen Young's Memorical Concert Film (2006).

All the Roadrunning, an album of collaborations with former Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler, was released in April 2006 and accompanied by a tour of Europe and the United States. The album was a commercial success, peaking at No. 1. The United Kingdom and No. 8 are the same as those in the United Kingdom and No. 1. In the United States, there are 17 of them. In November 2006, all the Roadrunning tour selections from the Gibson Amphitheatre's appearance were released as part of a CD/DVD set titled Real Live Roadrunning. Real Live Roadrunning includes solo hits from both members of the band and Knopfler's days in the studio as well as a few classics from Knopfler's days with Dire Straits.

Harris is featured on A Tribute to Joni Mitchell, which was released on April 24, 2007. Harris covered the song "The Magdalene Laundries" (originally on Mitchell's 1994 album, Turbulent Indigo). Anne Murray's album "Another Pot o' Tea" appeared on Murray's album Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends, released in Canada on November 13, 2007, and in the United States on January 15, 2008.

Harris wrote a song titled "In Rodanthe" for the 2008 film Nights in Rodanthe.

All Intended to Be, a solo album, was released on June 10, 2008 to critical acclaim. It debuted on Billboard's Country Albums chart and in the Top 20 of the Pop Albums chart. Buddy Miller, the McGarrigle sisters, Vince Gill, Phil Madeira, and her Trio sister Dolly Parton were among the contributors. Harris performed with an ensemble she called the Red Dirt Boys, a group starring Phil Madeira, guitar, and keyboards, Colin Linden on guitar and banjo, Rickie Simpkins on mandolin and fiddle, Bryan Owings on bass, and Bryan Owings on drums. Miller, who was touring with Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, and T-Bone Burnett at the time, was not included. Harris performed as "Three Girls and Their Buddy" with Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, and Miller in 2009. Madeira, Simpkins, and Donohue appeared on "A Prairie Home Companion" and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in late 2008 and 2009. Owings returned to the Red Dirt Boys with Miller for the remainder of 2009.

Harris regrouped with the latest iteration of the Red Dirt Boys—Madeira, Owings, Donohue, and Simpkins—for Lilith Fair summer dates and a planned autumn tour in the United States.

Harris will be working with her on Tyler's forthcoming album in an interview with Bonnie Tyler from Digital Spy. Harris will perform backing vocals on a tune written and produced by Wayne Warner. On April 26, 2011, Hard Bargain, a solo album, was released on the Nonesuch label. It has surpassed No. 1 in the United States, with no. 2 on the charts. 3 on Billboard's Country Albums chart, her highest-charting album since 1980—and the Top 20 of the Pop Albums chart.

In a program that aired on April 20, 2011, PBS host Tavis Smiley interviewed Harris. Harris related to being a straight-A student in high school, which culminated in her to be named as valedictorian, and she related to learning to play guitar by memorizing three chords.

In 2011, she recorded a version of the song 'To Ohio,' in collaboration with the American indie folk band 'The Low Anthem.' She appeared on the soundtrack to John Hillcoat's film Lawless later in 2011. The film, which is set in Franklin County, Virginia, United States, was released in August 2012 in the United States and September 2012 in the United Kingdom.

On February 26, 2013, Old Yellow Moon, a collection of duets starring Harris and former Hot Band member Rodney Crowell, was released. This was her 13th Grammy Award for Harris, and it was another Billboard Top ten Country Album for Harris.

Nonesuch Records' Traveling Kind, a Rodney Crowell collaboration, received their second Americana Music Award for Duo/Group of the Year in 2015 and also received two Grammy nominations.

Harris was honoured with The Life & Songs of Emmylou Harris in 2016, which was later released as both a DVD and a live CD. Several of Harris' closest friends and collaborators, including Rodney Crowell, Buddy Miller, Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams, Alison Krauss, Lee Ann Womack, Martina McBride, Vince Gill, and Sheryl Crow, were among the concert's many of the performers. Harris performed three songs at the festival: "Gone, Long Gone" (with John Starling), "Blackhawk" (with Daniel Lanois), and "Boulder to Birmingham" with the entire cast.

Harris appeared at the 2019 Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum Concert and Induction Ceremony.

Harris has been married three times. Mika Hallie Slocum, 1970, was her mother's first child from 1969 to 1970. Meghann Ahern, a child of Brian Ahern, was born on September 9, 1979, from 1977 to 1984. She was married to Paul Kennerley from 1985 to 1993.

She has a granddaughter who was born in 2009 and a grandson who was born in 2012.

Personal life

Harris has been married three times. Mika Hallie Slocum's marriage to Tom Slocum lasted from 1969 to 1970, with just one child, born on March 15, 1970. Meghann Ahern was born on September 9, 1979, she was married to Brian Ahern, with whom she had one child. She was married to Paul Kennerley from 1985 to 1993.

She has a granddaughter who was born in 2009 and a grandson who was born in 2012.

Source