Emmylou Harris

Emmylou Harris is the true Queen of Country Music. She not only helped revive traditional country music back in the Seventies, but she made a slew of converts (myself included) to the genre by infusing the old-school songs with distorted guitars and rock flavors. As a background singer with Gram Parsons (The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers), she helped spark a revival in country music that Gram himself, in my opinion, could never have completed alone, even if he had survived. Sadly, Gram's death in 1973 sent Emmylou scrambling to find her own identity and her own way as a pioneer in this new hybrid of American music.

Along the way she became a top-notch band leader enlisting the finest guitarists and side-men available: James Burton, Ricky Skaggs, Emory Gordy, Jr., Glen Hardin, Hank DeVito, Albert Lee, Rodney Crowell and Buddy Miller, just to name a few. In 1980, she came out with a bluegrass-oriented record called "Roses In the Snow." I was intrigued with a high tenor voice that was amply used throughout the recording. Searching for the person with "that voice" through reading the liner notes, I became aware, for the first time, of the brilliant Ricky Skaggs.

I have collected almost all of her records since then. Emmylou has taken a few creative "left turns" in her career, including the making of "Wrecking Ball" with producer Daniel Lanois (U2,Peter Gabriel). She was never a prolific songwriter herself, but soon ramped-up the writing of her own compositions after "Wrecking Ball." I consider Emmylou a master song-picker. Like her friend Linda Ronstadt, she has a keen ear for great songs--many times obscure--waiting to be brought to life through her stellar arrangements and beautiful vocal interpretations. Her song-picking and songwriting have fused to create excellent results on her most recent records.

Yesterday I bought her new record, "Hard Bargain." I was impressed with the songs and her contemporary approach to them (airy, wide-open and spacious mixes complementing her beautiful, and at times heartbreaking, lyrics). Sometimes I like to go back and enjoy the early recordings of Emmylou. The songs transport me to where, in 1981, I was horseback riding in the Canadian Rockies, just outside of Banff. Her music became a veritable soundtrack of my journey across Canada that summer. As I listen to the songs from "Hard Bargain," they are a perfect accompaniment to this rainy morning as I write and look out into a soggy, brilliantly green spring morning.