Emmylou Harris

    Emmylou Harris

    Nashville, Tennessee8 reviews across 5 releases

    alternative countryamericanacountryfolk rock
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    Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter from Birmingham, Alabama, who came to national attention through her work with Gram Parsons in the early 1970s. After Parsons died in 1973, she formed the Hot Band and built a solo career around an unusually clear, aching voice and a wide-ranging sense of country tradition. Her early work joined bluegrass picking to polished country-rock, while Light of the Stable, recorded in 1979, applied the approach to Christmas music, with Ricky Skaggs's mandolin helping drive arrangements of familiar carols and less common material. By Spyboy in 1998, live performances mixed traditional country with rock and "No Depression" textures. Red Dirt Girl in 2000 changed the emphasis again: Harris wrote eleven of its twelve songs, turning toward family relationships, mortality, and religious questions.

    In 1973, Gram Parsons's death sent Harris back to the Washington, D.C., area, where she assembled the Hot Band and established herself as a leader rather than only an interpreter. The group's personnel changed over time; she later replaced it with the acoustic Nash Ramblers, whose work led to the live album At the Ryman in 1992. Harris left Warner/Reprise in 1993 and signed with Asylum, then moved to Nonesuch for a run of original albums. She continued working with collaborators including Mark Knopfler and Rodney Crowell, while Rhino issued the 2005 career compilation Heartaches and Highways. The Country Music Hall of Fame inducted her in 2008. Later releases included Hard Bargain and the Crowell collaboration Old Yellow Moon. Harris remains active as a performer.

    5 releases reviewed