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.
Julie Doiron
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