Emmylou Harris Biography, Photos and Posters

Emmylou Harris

Biography

Born: April 2, 1947
City and Country of Origin: Birmingham, Alabama
Music Training:
Awards: CMA 2001 - Album of the Year, O Brother, Where Art Thou?; 1988 - Vocal Event of the Year, Tio (Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris); 1980 - Female Vocalist of the Year; Grammys 2005 Best Female Country Vocal Performance, The Connection; 2001 Album Of The Year, O Brother, Where Art Thou?; 2000 Best Contemporary Folk Album, Red Dirt Girl; 1999 Best Country Collaboration With Vocals, After The Gold Rush; 1998 Best Country Collaboration With Vocals, Same Old Train; 1995 Best Contemporary Folk Album, Wrecking Ball; 1992 Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, Emmylou Harris & The Nash Ramblers At The Ryman; 1987 Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, Trio; 1984 Best Country Vocal Performance, Female, In My Dreams; 1980 Best Country Performance Duo Or Group, "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again;" 1979 Best Country Vocal Performance, Female, Blue Kentucky Girl; 1976 Best Country Vocal Performance, Female, Elite Hotel
Top Recordings: "If I Could Only Win Your Love," "Mister Sandman," "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again,"
Emmylou Harris Biography: Emmylou Harris is a country music singer-songwriter and musician. Aside from her work as a solo artist and bandleader, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous big-name artists.

Emmylou Harris was the daughter of a career military father. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama and spent her childhood in North Carolina, and then in Woodbridge, Virginia, where she graduated from Gar-Field Senior High School as class valedictorian and won a drama scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This is when she began to study music seriously, learning to play the songs of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez on guitar.

Harris married fellow songwriter Tom Slocum in 1969, and recorded her first album the following year, Gliding Bird, on Jubilee Records (reissued in 1979 on Emus Records). Shortly thereafter, the couple got divorced, and Harris and her newborn daughter Hallie moved-in with her parents in Washington, D.C.

Harris soon returned to performing, as part of a trio with local musicians Gerry Mule and Tom Guidera. Former Byrds member Chris Hillman, at that time a member of The Flying Burrito Brothers, was so impressed when he heard Harris that he briefly considered asking her to join the band. Instead, in 1972, Hillman ended up recommending her to recently departed band member and founder Gram Parsons, who was looking for a female vocalist to work with on his first solo album. Harris toured as a member of Parsons' "Fallen Angels" band, and in 1973, Harris returned to the studio with Parsons to record Grievous Angel. Parsons died in a motel room near what is now Joshua Tree National Park on September 19, 1973, from an overdose of drugs including alcohol.

Emmylou met Canadian producer Brian Ahern, who produced her major label debut album, released in 1975 on Reprise Records, entitled Pieces of the Sky. The album included a number of cover songs, including The Beatles' "For No One" and Harris's first hit single, The Louvin Brothers' "If I Could Only Win Your Love". She created The Hot Band, a group of studio and touring musicians that included Elvis Presley band alumni Glen D. Hardin, Hank DeVito, and James Burton.

Harris' subsequent albums, Elite Hotel (1975), Luxury Liner (1977), and Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town (1978) were all country hits, but also had appeal for rock listeners. Around this time Harris also produced a number of collaborative albums. A Christmas album, "Light of the Stable," was released in 1979; its title track featured backing vocals by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Neil Young. From the mid-1970s on, Harris had begun working with all three artists, recording two Trio albums with Parton and Ronstadt (as well as a number of singles), a duet album with Ronstadt, and a number of various projects with Young. In addition, her vocals were prominently featured on Bob Dylan's 1975 Desire album. She also worked with The Band during this period, appearing in their film The Last Waltz. In 1977, Harris married Brian Ahern and had another daughter, Meghann in 1979. This marriage ended in divorce in 1984.

Her 1979 album Blue Kentucky Girl featured straight Loretta Lynn/Kitty Wells-style country, while 1980's Roses in the Snow was a Grammy-winning collection of bluegrass and country material featuring Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Douglas.

In 1980, Harris recorded "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again" with rock legend Roy Orbison, for which they would win the Grammy Award for best vocal duo, and in 1981, she reached number 37 on the Billboard pop charts with a cover of "Mister Sandman" from her Evangeline album. 1983's White Shoes was an eclectic pairing of the rockish reading of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" with a remake of the Donna Summer hit "On the Radio". Though not previously noted for her songwriting, Harris wrote all the songs on her 1985 album, The Ballad of Sally Rose, a somewhat autobiographical piece, based on her relationship with Parsons, which Harris herself described as a "country opera". Harris married musician Paul Kennerley in 1985. This marrriage ended in divorced in 1993.

In 1987, she teamed up with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt for their long-promised Trio album. The album was nominated for three Grammy awards (it took the award for "Best Country Collaboration"), reached the top ten on both the pop and country charts, and launched four hit singles. On Angel Band, another 1987 album, with traditional religious songs, she worked, among others, with rising country star Vince Gill.

In the early 1990s, she dissolved The Hot Band, and formed The Nash Ramblers. They recorded a Grammy-winning live album (1992) at the Ryman Auditorium that led to the $8 million restoration of the facility into a premium concert and event venue. It was her last album with Reprise Records.

During the 90s Harris received less airplay and her chart successes began to wane. She switched to Elektra Records, where her 1993 Cowgirl's Prayer album, while critically praised, received very little airplay, and its single, "High Powered Love" failed to chart, prompting her to shift her career in a new direction. This led Harris to move in a new direction.

In 1995, Harris released one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the decade, Wrecking Ball, produced by Daniel Lanois, best known for his work with U2, Peter Gabriel and Bob Dylan. An experimental album for Harris, to say the least, the record included Harris' rendition of the Neil Young-penned title track (Young himself provided guest vocals on two of the album's songs), Steve Earle's "Goodbye," Julie Miller's "All My Tears", Jimi Hendrix's "May This Be Love", Kate and Anna McGarrigle's "Goin' Back to Harlan" and Gillian Welch's "Orphan Girl". U2's Larry Mullen, Jr showed up to play drums for the project. The album received virtually no country airplay whatsoever, but did bring Harris to the attention of alternative rock listeners, many of whom had never listened to her music before.

Her next effort Red Dirt Girl also leaned more toward alternative music than country and contained a number of Harris' own compositions. After a few more efforts with Parton and Ronstadt, she released Stumble into Grace in 2003. In 2004 she toured with the Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue. In 2005 she worked with Conor Oberst on Bright Eyes' release, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and with Elvis Costello on several dates of his U.S. tour.

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