Emmylou Harris (b. 1947)
DIAMONDS FROM DIRT Emmylou Harris Gets Her Hands Dirty to Nurture a Stunning -- and Self-penned -- New Album
From her early days singing folk songs in Washington, D.C. coffeehouses, to her current iconic status as alt-country's matriarch, Emmylou Harris has carved her singular career out of constant challenge. As an earnest young folkie, she hooked up with a psychedelic cowboy named Gram Parsons to help create a folk /country/ rock fusion whose echoes can still be heard in the music of a generation of young roots-rock/Americana artists. She went on to carry Parsons' banner after his death, recording songs by the Louvin Brothers and the Beatles on her 1975 debut, Pieces of the Sky. She would go on to bring bluegrass back to mainstream country, tackle Western songs and honky-tonk, and record Grammy-winning albums with longtime friends Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt on Trio and Trio II and with Ronstadt on Western Wall. In 1995 she won a folk Grammy for the seminal Wrecking Ball, a touchstone in the Americana movement. On her latest album Red Dirt Girl, a follow-up to Wrecking Ball five years coming, this nine-time Grammy-winner took on another new challenge: songwriting. In the past, Harris has concentrated on interpreting the compositions of others, from Rodney Crowell (who got his start in her band) to Leonard Cohen to Townes Van Zandt. But the singer wrote all but one of Red Dirt Girl's dozen songs herself. From her home in Nashville, Harris spoke with Kerry Dexter about the work of songwriting and some of the famous friends who guest on her new album.
Barnes & Noble.com: The last time you wrote this many songs for one of your albums was 1985's Ballad of Sally Rose. Why now?
Emmylou Harris: After I finished Wrecking Ball in 1995, I knew I wanted to stay with that sound, but I didn't want to do "Son of Wrecking Ball." So I thought, what could I bring that would be new? And that was to write my own songs. I didn't set out to write a whole album, though -- I couldn't have approached that idea. I set myself what I thought was an achievable task, to write half the songs for my next record. But even then, I didn't know that I was going to achieve it.
B&N.com: How did you go about it?
EH: I said to myself, alright, this is a job, you know? I love my work, it's wonderful work, but it is work and if I want to accept that work I have to take myself to the next level by doing this, by writing songs. I've put it off and procrastinated long enough. Then I had to make some space, letting go of my band, not setting a regular touring schedule, to put myself in that mindset of writing. There really wasn't any one method to it, but I would work on writing every day. If I was at home, I'd go into my music room, and if I was on the road, I'd make sure I always had a guitar with me in the hotel room, and I'd work.
B&N.com: There's a strong sense of place in a lot of the songs on Red Dirt Girl.
EH: I'm very influenced by landscapes, not so much the way places look as the way the names sound. In this country we've got so many cultures, and the place names -- the Spanish names and the Indian names, which are so incredibly musical. The song "Red Dirt Girl" was just really inspired by driving from Nashville down to New Orleans, where we recorded, and seeing the signs for Meridian, Mississippi.
B&N.com: There seem to be some very personal songs on the record.
EH: Well, they are all personal in the sense that they come through me, that they come through my experience. "Bang the Drum Slowly" is about my father, but "Red Dirt Girl" is made up, although there are elements that are real. I think anyone of my generation lost someone in Viet Nam, for instance, or knew someone who did. But I never had a best friend named Lillian. "Michelangelo" came to me in a dream, I think (it was) inspired by some reading I had been doing. One of the things I like about the recording of that song, by the way, is that it was a one take vocal. "Hour of Gold/Hour of Lead" is sort of like that too -- the cut that's on the record is our original rough mix. We tried another one, but there was just something surreal about that take we really loved.
B&N.com: How did you get Bruce Springsteen to sing harmony on "Tragedy"?
EH: That came about because I had invited his wife, Patti Scialfa, over to do harmony -- I loved her record and think it's really overlooked, and I wanted her on mine. Bruce came along and just spontaneously started singing a third part. It was great!
B&N.com: What else are you listening to these days?
EH: I just listened to Shelby Lynne's record. It's great that she's finally been able to do the record that's really her -- she's always been a great singer. I got this jones to listen to Ray Charles, so I just went out and bought his box set, and put that on. I've been listening to some r&b compilations. I've been listening to Neil Young, to Marianne Faithfull, and to Miriam Makeba. Jim Watts, the engineer on Red Dirt Girl, turned me on to Miriam Makeba.
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