StarPolish Interview With Emmylou Harris

Long recognized as a key figure that helped bring about the convergence of rock, folk, country and bluegrass, Harris' most recent work has also added a unique pop sensibility to these more traditional genres. But even more important than the new sonic soundscapes that have been presented on recent albums is the emergence of Harris -- long known as exquisite interpreter of other people's music -- as a strong vibrant songwriter in her own right.

Harris was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1947, and grew up an Army brat first in North Carolina, then later in the suburbs outside Washington, D.C. Her grandfather purchased her first guitar -- an old Kay acoustic -- for her when she was 16, spurring her to practice diligently. After dropping out of college, Harris made her way to the burgeoning folk scene in New York City, where she cut her first album before heading back to the Washington, D.C. area, where she was introduced by Chris Hillman to now-legendary country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons, who invited Harris to sing backup in 1972 to sing on a album he was recording with members of Elvis Presley's band in Los Angeles. A year and one album later, Parson died in the desert of a drug overdose, and Harris launched her career as a solo artist.

The three albums following Parson's death, recorded with Parson' band mates The Hot Band, were steeped in loss, marked by Harris's simple, achingly pure voice and the palpable heartbreak it convincingly conveyed. Over the years, Harris band has included some of the finest guitar players and musicians around, including Albert Lee, Rodney Crowell, Hank DeVito and most recently Buddy Miller. Throughout the 1980s Harris recorded constantly, winning accolades for albums such as Roses in the Snow in 1980, and the popular Trio album she recorded in 1987 with friends and musical partners Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt.

But in the early 90s, Harris radically altered the sound of her recording and overall musical direction when she began working with producer Daniel Lanois (U2, Peter Gabriel) and engineer Malcolm Burns on 1995's aptly named Wrecking Ball, which demolished long-held perceptions about Harris as an artist by wrapping the songs of despair and sexuality within an entirely new sound. On this album -- and its Grammy-winning follow-up, 2000's Red Dirt Girl, for which she wrote most of the songs -- Harris' voice, always a singular instrument, takes on a new grittier character that works remarkable well with the evolving thematic elements of her work. After touring extensively in support of that album, Harris the live album Spyboy in 1998, followed by the much-anticipated Trio II with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton. She also completed Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions, the duet album with Linda Ronstadt.