Background and career
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana genre in the 1990s. Her music united both country and rock audiences in live performance settings. Her characteristic voice, musical style and songwriting have been acclaimed by critics and fellow recording artists. Harris developed an interest in folk music in her early years, which led to her performing professionally. After moving to New York City in the 1960s, she recorded a folk album and performed regionally. She was discovered by Gram Parsons, who influenced her country rock direction. Following his 1973 death, Harris obtained her own recording contract from Reprise–Warner Bros. Her second album, Pieces of the Sky (1975), found both critical acclaim and commercial success. Follow-up 1970s albums further elevated Harris's career, such as Elite Hotel (1976), Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town (1978) and Blue Kentucky Girl (1979). By 1980, she had acquired five number-one songs on the US country charts: "Together Again", "Sweet Dreams", "Two More Bottles of Wine", "Beneath Still Waters" and "(Lost His Love) On Our Last Date". Harris had a continued string of commercially and critically successful albums like Roses in the Snow (1980), Evangeline (1981) and Last Date (1982). Her backing group, the Hot Band, helped establish a musical foundation for her concerts and albums. Her 1980s albums spawned the top ten singles "Wayfaring Stranger", "Born to Run" and "Last Date". The 1985 album The Ballad of Sally Rose was among Harris's first self-written projects. The album (along with its follow-ups) failed to sustain the commercial momentum of previous albums. Harris then collaborated with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt on Trio (1987). The platinum-selling album was also a critical success that spawned four top ten singles. In 1992, Warner Bros. released the live album At the Ryman. It garnered critical praise and renewed interest in its live venue, the Ryman Auditorium. Harris was inspired to move in a new musical direction with 1995's Wrecking Ball. She then reunited with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt for Trio II (1999). By the 2000s, Harris had signed with Nonesuch Records and recorded several albums of self-composed material like Red Dirt Girl (2000), All I Intended to Be (2008) and Hard Bargain (2011). She also found collaborative partnerships, such as with Mark Knopfler on the internationally successful All the Roadrunning (2006). She then collaborated with Rodney Crowell on the critically acclaimed Old Yellow Moon (2013) and The Traveling Kind (2015). She also became involved in activism during this time, including starting her own dog rescue called Bonaparte's Retreat. Harris has been estimated to have sold over 15 million records worldwide. She has also earned 13 Grammy Awards, placed 27 singles into the top ten of the US country chart, and several of her albums have received gold certifications in the US. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008 and was ranked among Rolling Stone's list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time in 2022. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2025.
Harris was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1947. She was one of two children born to Walter Rutland Harris and Eugenia Harris. Her older brother, Walter Harris Jr., enjoyed country music in his youth. Her father was a Marine Corps officer who served in both World War II and the Korean War. In the latter, he was taken as a prisoner of war and was reported as missing in action. He was later released. "I never talked to him about his experiences. He wouldn't ever talk about it," she later reflected. The Harris family lived in Birmingham through their daughter's first grade school year. Her father was then transferred to Cherry Point, North Carolina, and later to Quantico, Virginia. Harris took piano lessons as a child but she did not enjoy them. During her high school years, the family settled near Quantico in Woodbridge, Virginia. Harris was a straight-A high school student at Gar-Field Senior High School, a cheerleader and a saxophonist in the marching band. She also won the "Miss Woodbridge" beauty pageant during her teen years. Classmates considered Harris unusual because she was devoted to her studies. Harris was among many adolescents interested in the American folk music revival of the 1960s. She became fascinated with folk artists of the era such as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Buffy Sainte-Marie. Her grandfather gave Harris her first guitar, which she learned to play. In 1965, Harris graduated from Gar-Field (which was desegregated shortly before she left) as the class valedictorian. She planned to become an actress and accepted a drama scholarship from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Harris began taking classes in the fall of 1965. She participated in the school's productions of The Tempest and The Dancing Donkey. Harris then formed a folk music duo with Mike Williams called the Emerald City. The duo worked a series of gigs in the local area, most of which were coffeehouses. Harris also played coffeehouses as a solo performer, primarily in one known as "The Corner". In 1967, Harris dropped out of the University of North Carolina and enrolled at Boston University, but would soon drop out there as well. She ultimately chose to pursue a career as a folk singer full-time. Harris briefly moved to Virginia Beach, where she worked as a waitress and as a folk singer. She then left for New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood where there was a popular folk music scene. In 1969, Harris married her first husband Tom Slocum and soon gave birth to her first child.
Harris regularly worked the Greenwich Village music scene and developed friendships with fellow artists Jerry Jeff Walker, Dave Bromberg and Paul Siebel. She worked at several notable Greenwich Village clubs, including The Bitter End. She also supported herself by working as a waitress and bookstore cashier. Along with her husband and daughter, Harris lived at a nearby YWCA. Harris got her first manager and signed with Jubilee Records in 1969. The label released her debut studio album, Gliding Bird, in 1970. The disc featured several recordings penned by Harris herself, along with one penned by her first husband, Tom Slocum. Unlike her later recordings, Gliding Bird was released under the name "Emmy Lou Harris". Jubilee Records declared bankruptcy shortly after Gliding Bird was released. Harris and her husband then decided to attempt a music career in Nashville, Tennessee. The couple divorced while in Nashville. Harris attempted to support herself and her daughter by working as a waitress. However, she was surviving on food stamps and Medicaid. Ultimately, she went back to live with her parents in the Maryland suburb of Clarksville, near Washington, D.C. Harris then obtained a hostessing job in Columbia, Maryland. At the same time, Harris developed a following performing at clubs in Washington, D.C. and its surrounding suburbs. Yet, she was unconvinced she could make it as a music artist. "At that point, I'd retired forever from the music business," she recalled. Among the clubs Harris worked during this period was Clyde's and The Cellar Door. In 1971, she performed the country song "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" one evening at The Cellar Door, "almost as a joke", as she knew little about country music at that time. The Flying Burrito Brothers noticed her performing while they were drinking after a show and thought she had potential. Though singer-songwriter Gram Parsons had left the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers at this time, he was establishing a solo career and mentioned to the Burritos and friends that he was looking for a harmony singer. A conversation about her at a DC nightclub was overheard by the babysitter of Harris's daughter, who passed on her details, and Parsons got in contact the next day. Parsons went to hear Harris and was drawn to her singing ability. One year later, he sent her a plane ticket to Los Angeles, California where she recorded harmony vocals for his debut album GP in September–October 1972. After its release, the album failed to become successful and find a mainstream audience. Harris also toured as a member of Parsons's band (the Fallen Angels) in 1973, and performed vocal harmonies and duets with him. Through recording and touring, the pair found an instant musical connection. Parsons had become known for his fusion of country rock and had a fascination with classic country music. His passion for the genre was influential on Harris and she soon learned about the country genre. Harris would later credit Parsons for helping her find her artistic direction as well as her passion for authentic country music. In 1973, Harris returned to the recording studio to make Parsons' next album, titled Grievous Angel. Weeks following the album's sessions, Parsons died from a drug and alcohol overdose in a hotel room near Joshua Tree National Park. Parsons's Grievous Angel was released posthumously in 1974, and three more tracks from his sessions with Harris were included on another posthumous Parsons album, Sleepless Nights, in 1976. One more album of recorded material from that period was packaged as Live 1973 but was not released until 1982.
Although affected by Gram Parsons' death, Harris continued on as a solo artist. She decided to carry on the country rock legacy left by Parsons for her own career. "Once I started singing country music with Gram there was no turning back for me," she recounted. Harris formed her own band and got a weekly job performing at the Red Fox Inn in Bethesda, Maryland. Meanwhile, Parsons’ former A&R representative at Warner Bros. Records (Mary Martin) attempted to launch Harris's own career. She contacted Canadian-based producer Brian Ahern, who had recent success working alongside Anne Murray. Impressed by her, Ahern agreed to produce Harris. The pair would later marry in 1977 and Harris then signed with Warner Bros.–Reprise.
Ahern produced Harris's next several albums beginning with 1975's Pieces of the Sky. It featured covers of songs by The Beatles and Merle Haggard, along with originals like Harris' "Boulder to Birmingham", which reflected her emotions surrounding Parsons's death. The disc was a commercial success, reaching number seven on the American Billboard country LP's chart and number 45 on the Billboard 200 all-genre chart. Its second single, "If I Could Only Win Your Love" reached number four on the Billboard country songs chart and topped the Canadian RPM country chart. It was followed by 1975's Elite Hotel. It was her first to top the Billboard country chart while also climbing into Billboard 200 top 25. The disc's covers of Buck Owens's "Together Again" and Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams" topped the Billboard country chart. Harris formed a new backing group for the project called The Hot Band. The group featured James Burton, Glen D. Hardin (both members of Elvis Presley's TCB Band) and Rodney Crowell. Harris' albums received critical and commercial success. Adam Sweeting of The Guardian found Pieces of the Sky to have "many brilliant songs". Grant Alden of No Depression concluded that when both LPs are played 'front to back' it makes for "an astonishing, almost blemish-free collection". Elite Hotel also brought Harris the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Additionally, both LPs were certified gold in the United States for selling over half a million copies each. In 1975, Harris contributed backing vocals to several tracks on Bob Dylan's album Desire. Harris's next several studio collections included both traditional country cover tunes and new material. In 1976, Warner Bros. issued her fourth album, Luxury Liner, which was her second number-one US country album. It also was her second to make the top 20 in the United Kingdom and third to certify gold in the US. Jason Ankeny named it "one of her most engaging efforts". Warner Bros. followed it with 1978's Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town, which was considered to have "over-careful production", according to Grant Alden. It made the top five of the US country chart, the top 25 of the US all-genre chart, the top ten of the Canadian country chart and later certified gold in sales. The albums spawned the number one US and Canadian country singles "Making Believe", "To Daddy" and "Two More Bottles of Wine". They also spawned a top ten cover of "You Never Can Tell (C'est La Vie)" and the US top 20 original tune "Easy From Now On". Harris' record label proposed shifting her career towards country pop crossover stardom. Instead, Harris recorded two traditionally-oriented albums, beginning with 1979's Blue Kentucky Girl. It was a top-ten disc on the North American country charts and received a gold certification. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The follow-up was 1980's Roses in the Snow, which was considered to embed bluegrass sounds. Like its predecessor, Roses in the Snow went gold and reached the number two on the country charts in the US and Canada. Harris' new bluegrass sound was credited to the new Hot Band member Ricky Skaggs, who replaced Rodney Crowell. Both albums spawned top ten US and Canadian country singles: "Save the Last Dance for Me", "Blue Kentucky Girl", "Wayfaring Stranger". Additionally, "Beneath Still Waters" went to the number one spot in both countries. Billboard named Blue Kentucky Girl among its April 1979 "Top Album Picks", calling Harris' voice "crystal clear", while Cashbox magazine highlighted Harris's "beautiful, sensitive voice" on Roses in the Snow. Harris gave birth to a second daughter during this period and briefly stopped touring. Shortly beforehand, the Christmas-themed Light of the Stable (1979) was released and was followed by Evangeline (1981). The latter was a studio collection compiled from songs that were "left off" previous albums. Evangeline certified gold in sales and reached number five on the US country chart. It spawned a cover of "Mister Sandman", which topped the Canadian country chart, reached the US country top ten and made the US pop top 40. Although the song's album version featured harmony vocals from Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, Harris harmonized with herself for the single version. Harris also collaborated with Roy Orbison during this time for the 1980 single "That Lovin' You Feeling Again". It would later win the Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Harris also won the Female Vocalist of the Year award from the Country Music Association.
Around 1981, Ricky Skaggs left the Hot Band and was replaced by Barry Tashian. Drummer John Ware also left Harris' backing group, which prompted her to reform the Hot Band with new members. Her next studio album, Cimarron (1981) was cut with the new Hot Band. It made the US country albums top ten and the US all-genre top 50. It spawned the US and Canadian top ten country songs "Born to Run" and "Tennessee Rose". A duet with Don Williams called "If I Needed You" topped the Canadian country chart. In 1982, Harris and the Hot Band recorded her first live album, titled Last Date. Its lead single was a vocal version of Floyd Cramer's instrumental original song "Last Date". The single topped the US country chart and was followed by the top-five single "I'm Movin' On". Both albums received mixed reviews, with Grant Alden of No Depression finding that Cimarron and Last Date are no "monumental artistic statement" but occasionally "have their moments". William Ruhlmann of AllMusic gave Last Date 2.5 stars, explaining that Harris failed to create original styles and arrangements that previously set her apart. Harris' final album under Brian Ahern's production (the pair would then divorce) was released in 1983, called White Shoes. The disc featured a collection of cover songs. Among its tracks were the singles "Pledging My Love" and "In My Dreams", both of which reached the US and Canadian country top ten. White Shoes was among her lowest-peaking albums to date on the US country chart, stalling at number 22. Harris then relocated to Nashville, where she collaborated with new producer Paul Kennerley, whom she married in 1985. The pair composed The Ballad of Sally Rose, which was released by Warner Bros. in 1985. Featuring compositions written by Harris herself, The Ballad of Sally Rose was loosely based on her time with Gram Parsons. Despite reaching the US country top ten the album ultimately resulted in poor record sales and was considered a commercial failure. Yet its embedding of various musical styles was praised by critics.
