Emmylou Harris

...but then the silver-haired queen of country took the stage and began to introduce her fellow musicians…

“Buddy Miller, the Milk Carton duo, and my captain, Mr. Steve Earle.”

After quickly explaining the ‘in the round’ format, Steve Earle started the circle of songs. “We are here for a cause and we’ll get to that, but you are here to be entertained, so I’m just gonna play the blues.” And with that, from the comfort of his stool center stage, Mr. Earle opened the night with “You’re the Best Lover That I Ever Had”. Emmylou was up next with “Boulder to Birmingham”, and although she probably had the most muted personality of the entire crew, her voice soared like an angel during the song that was so appropriate for the night. Buddy Miller followed with a personality that more than made up for the reserved Emmylou. The man had tales to tell. He went on and on about playing Boulder on New Year’s Eve 2000 (“when we were all afraid of Y2K“), his wife’s obsession with salad dressing and European meat, and trying to get landmines banned. Miller literally threatened to use his time telling stories instead of singing songs, but he was finally convinced to pick up his guitar and take us through Dolly & Porter’s “Burning the Midnight Oil”.

The Milk Carton Kids were situated by themselves stage left and they acted as a sort of comic relief for the evening. Before singing their first harmony “about death,” they spoke about how they ended up on the tour. “Our manager called us up and said ‘Emmylou would like to know…’ and we said ‘yup!’” They didn’t know what Emmylou wanted of them, but it was Emmylou, so they were down for whatever. “Just don’t ask us to do anything weird, ok?” She laughed and replied “you can always say no, if you dare.” Then their attention turned to Mr. Miller, “we remember Y2K as well; it was the strangest day of high school.” All comedy aside, The Milk Carton Kids are a Grammy-nominated/AMA-winning folk duo who had earned the right to share the stage with those who had influenced them.

The rest of the two-hour performance kept the rotation going with a nice balance of humor, music, and messaging around the cause at hand. Earle joked about growing up in occupied Mexico (San Antonio) before rattling off shocking statistics as an intro to Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee”. Emmylou told stories about her longtime friend and peer Dolly Parton (having just seen Dolly this summer, it’s crazy how different the two of them are), before performing “To Daddy”. Miller’s “Wide River to Cross” was almost a duet between him and Harris; opening up more and more collaboration as the night progressed.

see more at http://ilistensoyoudonthaveto.com/2016/10/15/lampedusa-concert-for-refugees-boulder-theater-10-06-16/

Even in a post Mumford and Sons world, on this side of the pond it’s difficult to believe that country music has always been an incredibly popular genre of music in the States, with its own award ceremonies, charts and record industry to boot. I would like to think that part of the reason its success has endured is the respect that its modern day stars have for those that blazed their trail before them. Folks like Bright Eyes, Ryan Adams, Allison Krauss and Gillian Welch have all been known to where their influences on their sleeves and of them have worked with one of their biggest influences, the immortal Emmylou Harris. Still touring at 67 years of age, a concert of Emmylou Harris is worth the price of admission alone just to hear the way her voice has matured and grown into an instrument that can express everything from the profound loss of Boulder to Birmingham to anything in her vast array of covers, lending gravitas to songs by everyone from Bob Dylan to Townes Van Zandt. There was never anyone who could interpret quite like her and there still isn’t today, and as she currently tours classic albums like 1995’s Wrecking Ball in full, there’s never been a better time to see it for oneself. Highly recommended.

On the one hand, it feels as if it’d be daft to suggest that Emmylou Harris is underappreciated - to a generation of songwriters, she’s taken on a status that borders on goddess, and she’s also got no fewer than thirteen Grammys on her mantlepiece - but that said, under her own name, she’s never experienced huge commercial success; the only platinum record she has to hang over said mantlepiece is for Trio, a collaboration with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. Much like her old songwriting partner, and some would say musical soulmate, Gram Parsons, her influence is not in question, but she’s never quite been appreciated by a wider audience. She continues to write and record to this day, with Hard Bargain, her twenty-sixth full-length, released in 2011. She’s still touring, too, and back in May, she played shows in London, Bristol and Brighton that saw her lean heavily on her iconic 1995 album Wrecking Ball in its entirety, as well as play a handful of covers from the likes of Kate McGarrigle and Gillian Welch. For those UK crowds, it was a rare opportunity to see a legend of songwriting in the flesh; she might not be a household name, but neither her fanbase and influence are in serious doubt.

Emmylou Harris, the spiritual mother of country and folk continues to tour to her loyal fanbase despite being close to hitting 70. However by looking at the way in which the iconic performer conducts herself onstage and handles her faithful acoustic she could easily outperform the modern contemporaries.

Her set comprises of her own celebrated solo work along with covers of some of her legendary collaborators such as Bob Dylan and Gillian Welch. She has a wonderfully warm personality and the audience feel the rapport as Emmylou chats to them between tracks as though they were old friends sharing an afternoon tea. She has some incredible stories regarding the places to which her music has taken as well as the sorts of artists she has had the opportunity to share stages with. Following this with a note-perfect rendition of 'The Maker' poignantly delivers the message of just why this great lady is so revered as both an artist and a person. She is given a standing ovation following a tender cover of 'My Songbird' by Jesse Winters and even after all these shows, still looks visibly moved.

I've enjoyed many concerts by Emmylou whenever she visits Scotland and have never been disappointed. She has the voice of an angel and looks like one too. She comes across as a really nice person that I would really like to meet personally but I doubt if that will ever happen. Anyway, many thanks Emmylou for all the joy you have given to me and many others.

a really fun show -- emmylou, sheryl crow, vince gill and luke combs -- a benefit concert so emmylou only played 4 songs -- each artist 4 songs -- as always she was incredible -- her voice is as strong as ever -- she is the best !!!