Emmylou Harris was discovered by ex-Byrd Chris Hillman in a folk club. Hillman recommended her to country maverick Gram Parsons. Parsons featured Harris’ harmony vocals on songs like ‘Love Hurts’, and mentored her in country music. When Parsons passed away in 1973, Harris continued his legacy of “cosmic American music”, blending country, blues, and rock.
Parsons would have been proud of Harris’ extensive catalogue of classy albums. When her career started to run out of steam in her forties, she revived it with the more experimental sound of 1995’s Wrecking Ball. Picking ten songs from such a rich catalogue is highly subjective – only four of these ten songs appear on Harris’ 2005 compilation The Very Best of Emmylou Harris: Heartaches & Highways.
10 Best Emmylou Harris Songs
#10 Prayer in Open D
from Cowgirl’s Prayer, 1993 Harris is best known as a song interpreter, but ‘Prayer in Open D’ is the first of four Harris compositions on this list. It’s probably the most revealing song that she’s ever written, singing of her inner turmoil and opening with the line “There’s a valley of sorrow in my soul/Where every night I hear the thunder roll.”
#9 Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight
from Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town, 1978 Harris drew from a diverse range of material on her first three Reprise records. Paul McCartney’s Revolver ballads, old country chestnuts, and Gram Parsons’ back-catalogue were all mined for choice songs. 1978’s Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town zeroes in on recent material from country writers like Dolly Parton and Jesse Winchester. ‘Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight’ is written by frequent collaborator Rodney Crowell. The rasp in Harris’ usually pristine voice underlines the chorus hook.
#8 My Antonia
from Red Dirt Girl, 2000 I don’t appreciate the Dave Matthews Band’s hookless jams, but Matthews’ gravelly tones are the perfect vocal foil for Harris on this tragic duet. ‘My Antonia’ is another Harris original, from Red Dirt Girl, an album Harris largely wrote herself. It’s based on Willa Cather’s 1918 novel My Ántonia, about pioneers in Nebraska in the 19th century.
#7 (You Can Never Tell) C’est La Vie
from Luxury Liner, 1977 Harris has covered some unlikely songs in her career – Jimi Hendrix’s ‘May This Be Love’ and Donna Summer’s ‘On The Radio’ are two surprising pieces that she’s brought into her catalogue. She made Chuck Berry’s ‘(You Can Never Tell) C’est La Vie’ into a #6 country hit in 1977, featuring Ricky Skaggs on cajun fiddle.
#6 Evangeline
from Evangeline, 1981 Robbie Robertson wrote ‘Evangeline’ the night before The Band’s Last Waltz concert. The original broadcast version was accordingly ragged; the Harris duet with Rick Danko, used in the movie, was recorded later on the MGM soundstage. Harris recorded her own version of the song for 1981’s Evangeline, with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt on harmony vocals.
#5 Pancho and Lefty
from Luxury Liner, 1977 ‘Pancho and Lefty’ is now Texan songwriter Townes Van Zandt’s best-known song. Harris was the first artist to cover it. Harris’ pure voice sounds terrific on Van Zandt’s parable about two wayward outlaws. Harris’ duet with Don Williams on ‘If I Needed You’ on 1981’s Cimarron is another ace Van Zandt cover.
#4 Orphan Girl
from Wrecking Ball, 1995 Harris’ 1993 album Cowgirl’s Prayer was comparatively unsuccessful, as country stations dropped older artists from their playlists. Harris’ label allowed her to pick the producer for her next record, and she chose Daniel Lanois, who’d worked with Brian Eno on U2’s The Joshua Tree. Lanois provides an atmospheric sheen and ghostly harmonies on Wrecking Ball. It’s full of great tracks but my favourite is ‘Orphan Girl’, written by Gillian Welch (yet to release her debut album).
#3 Woman Walk The Line
from The Ballad of Sally Rose, 1985 Written by Harris with then-husband Paul Kennerley, The Ballad of Sally Rose was a poor seller on release. It’s since been recognised as one of Harris’ best. It builds on the mythology around Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, chronicling a relationship between a hard-living musician and an aspiring singer. ‘Woman Walk The Line’ is a central song to the concept, a statement of female independence. The dramatic guitar strums are a great hook.
#2 Green Pastures
from Roses in the Snow, 1980 Harris dived into pure bluegrass on 1980’s Roses in the Snow, showcasing Ricky Skaggs on duet vocals. The record especially shines on traditional tunes like ‘Wayfaring Stranger’ and the Johnny Cash duet vocals on ‘Jordan’. My favourite is Harris and Skaggs’ lovely take on the traditional spiritual ‘Green Pastures’.
#1 Boulder to Birmingham
from Pieces of the Sky, 1975 Harris rarely wrote her own material on her country-rock albums for Reprise, but her tribute to Gram Parsons on Pieces of the Sky is gorgeous. ‘Boulder to Birmingham’ was written with Bill Danoff, who also wrote ‘Afternoon Delight’ and ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’. The verse melody is beautiful, while the chorus has a touch of gospel, overlain by James Burton’s memorable lead guitar.
It’s fitting to write about Emmylou Harris this week as, along with Simon and Garfunkel, she was the only artist that my father and I owned physical albums by. My father suddenly passed away this week while this article was at draft stage – next Saturday would have been his 76th birthday.
Are you a fan of Emmylou Harris? What are your favourite songs?
Graham Fyfe is probably the only music blogger to appreciate Neil Diamond and Ariana Grande. Aphoristic Album Reviews features reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
33 Comments
She’s one of those singers who’s singing I dislike simply because I think it’s really poor and really weak but nevertheless made a bunch of really good tracks when everything was just right. And I tend to like the albums that everyone else seems to think are her worst. Anyway I think these are her best songs.
1. In My Dreams
2. Rose of Cimarron
3. Luxury Liner
4. Tulsa Queen
5. Tennessee Rose
7. How High the Moon
8. Bad Moon Rising
9. Ain’t Living Long like This
10. C’est la Vie. (You Never Can Tell)
I like how you’re digging into those early 1980s albums. Brian Ahern is a very good producer, and all those 1975-1983 albums sound really nice.
I like her voice – it’s thin and wispy, but I find it pretty. Works really well in duets though.
I forgot to put Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend in my top ten. I don’t really like the way she recites the lyrics like that but the rest of the track is great.
The Pearl would likely be my favourite.
Terrific lyrics, “Time is a brutal but a careless thief”
There’s some amazingly good songs on that record- I like Boy From Tupelo and One Big Love a lot as well.
These tunes are great. I think my favorite among them is Evangeline with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. These harmony voices sound so sweet, they almost make you cry.
There is something very captivating about Emmylou Harris. I can’t quite explain it. Undoubtedly, a large part is her voice.
Ironically, this is all coming from a guy who has said a million times he doesn’t like country. Though that has definitely changed in more recent years.
I think one of the best vocal performances I know that involves Emmylou Harris is the cover of Neil Young’s “After The Gold Rush,” which she also sang together with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. That version actually has made me cry!
Thanks for listening. She has a huge catalogue and it would be easy to find ten completely different songs.
People that know more than me have talked about how she’s kind of a precursor to Americana artists like Gillian Welch and Jason Isbell. She’s able to marry the authenticity of country with classy and contemporary production.
Have you seen her play Evangeline in The Last Waltz?
I’ve watched the movie, though it’s been a while. I’ll look for it.
I saw Emmylou Harris open up for John Mellencamp a few years ago and was really impressed!
Oh, wow, just pulled it up on YouTube, almost angelic!
Yeah, it’s nicely shot too – Danko looks cool.
I find pure country a bit hard to take sometimes but love the one-step-removed variety a la Neil Young. Evangeline is a great song and she brings a lot to it. Robbie Robertson wrote it just as The Last Waltz was about to wrap and got everyone to come in, learn it quickly and get it on tape. And it sounds like a 100 years old.
Yeah, impressive – wrote it quickly and it would have been a highlight on a 1970s Band album.
I’ve never heard that Daniel Lanois produced an Emmylou Harris’ record. And it is very good indeed.
Sorry to know that your father passed away. Knowing that Harry’s voice is something in common with him should comfort you.
Wrecking Ball is my favourite Harris album – Lanois is very involved, playing guitar and singing as well, and writing the opening song.
Sorry about your dad. A nice memory for you to have.
Thank you!
You can’t go wrong with her. I like Wayfaring Stranger and Those Memories Of You. That is just off the top of my head. I just heard Angel From Montgomery with her and John Prine the day after he passed that I really liked.
When you pointed me to “For No One” I loved it and kept listening to it.
I don’t know her catalog enough to have a favorite but I could hear her sing anything. She knows how to pick songs for herself.
She does a good Here, There and Everywhere too. She has good taste in covers.
I like how she transitions between doing Beatles covers and then something with Dolly Parton.
Sorry to hear about your dad. Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town (1978) Pieces of the Sky (1975), and Wrecking Ball (1995) are the albums I go back to the most from her disography. Will check out your song picks and the movie The Last Waltz
Those three records are all among her best I think- I’d add Roses in the Snow, Luxury Liner, and the Ballad if Sally Rose for a top 6.
Really sorry for your loss, Graham. Lovely to share some music with your pa.
Thank you! He tended to gravitate to the traditional stuff like Blue Kentucky Girl and At The Ryman, but nice we both liked her.
Good choices Aph, I first heard her on Parsons GP album. I have been listening to her since then. She has so many songs and albums and guested all over the place. One of the most recognizable voices I know. I will play the first song I ever heard her voice on and think of your dad. ‘We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning’. Take care.
Thank you! May have been the first song I heard her on too? Probably 30 years after you though…
We all get to the music sooner or later. I really like your comment on Emmy Lou in duets. I guess because of my first exposure with Parsons the duet thing is ingrained in my ear. Good call.
She’s clearly very good at it – majors in accompanying singers with shaky voices (Parsons, Dylan, Young, Bright Eyes).
Perfect. Plus hanging with rough characters like The Band.
While maintaining a wholesome, America’s sweetheart image.
I love almost everything Emmylou has ever done. The occasional fade or rasp in her voice just adds to the beauty of the song. Of her lesser known songs, I’d pick her version of Rodney Crowell’s wonderful “Till I gain control again” from Elite Hotel and the gorgeous sound of “Lonely street” from the fantastic Bluebird
I haven’t heard Bluebird – I listened to everything through to 1985 (except Gliding Bird) and then stuff from 1995-2000. I mean to come back to the in-between stuff sometime. She’s amazingly consistent.
Born to Run encapsulates Emmy Lou almost as well as Luxury Liner. You’d better believe the lyrics!
Thanks for writing in! She has so many good songs, 10 is obviously a tiny fraction of her worthy material.
Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person.
Graham Fyfe is probably the only music blogger to appreciate both Neil Diamond and Ariana Grande. Based in Fleet Street (New Zealand), he's been writing this blog since around 2000. Aphoristic Album Reviews features reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.
Review Pages
Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
The band most likely to win a Scrabble tournament, The Decemberists hail from Portland, Oregon, and are notable for flaunting their extensive vocabulary in song. Despite their American heritage, they’re staunch Anglophiles; many of their early songs are set in Victorian England, while leader Colin Meloy is a fan of English […]
Formed in Swindon around songwriters Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, XTC started their career as a glam band. Their recording career started in 1978, with a pair of abrasive new wave albums. Once keyboardist Barry Andrews was replaced by guitarist Dave Gregory, XTC became a more conventional, guitar-based band and built […]
U2 started as a post-punk band, emerging from Ireland with their 1980 debut Boy. Like a lot of bands from the DIY ethos of the punk era, they had limitations. Paul Hewson (better known as Bono) became lead singer because the band wanted to get him off rhythm guitar, while […]
1960s New York band The Velvet Underground have been cited as an influence by a legion of followers. Even if the ground rules of the rock album as an art form had been largely written by the time the Velvets’ debut arrived in 1967, there is still a strong argument for […]
New Zealand’s Bic Runga has only released four albums of original material, starting with her 1997 debut Drive, but despite her limited output, she reigns supreme as the queen of New Zealand pop music. Runga comes from a unique cultural background; her father was Maori, and her mother Chinese-Malaysian, and […]
The Talking Heads started out playing in legendary New York club CBGB, effectively the focal point for American New Wave; The Ramones, Television, Patti Smith Group, and Blondie also launched their careers there. While these groups all came from the same place and time, they’re a diverse bunch, and Talking Heads have […]
Blog Posts
I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:
Neil Young has enjoyed a long and erratic music career. His first brush with fame came with Buffalo Springfield in the 1960s. He released his first solo album in 1969, and he also teamed up with Crosby, Stills, and Nash for 1970’s Déjà Vu. Young’s been prolific ever since, releasing […]
Texan-born Miranda Lambert occupies her own zone somewhere between the current mainstream country and the more rootsy sounds of Americana. As she explains herself, being a major-label artist involves compromise. I love raw albums. I’d love to record an album in a garage and for it to sound like an […]
The late John Martyn never enjoyed the mass acclaim that his immense talent deserved. Nonetheless, he delivered a string of great records in the 1970s and early 1980s. He started as a folk artist, emerging in the late 1960s alongside Nick Drake and Richard Thompson. By the early 1970s, Martyn […]
Frederic Fatzer grew up in the small town of Kinsley, Kansas, notable for its equidistance between New York City and San Francisco. He sensibly adopted the stage name Freedy Johnston. His small town background initially constrained his music career – with no local music store, he bought his first guitar […]
Manchester post-punk band Joy Division appeared so ordinary – in their music videos they look like four young civil servants playing music in their work clothes. But the music that they created was unique and deeply unsettling. Steven Morris’ drumming was robotic, while Peter Hook’s bass was busy and melodic, […]
Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, better known as Hergé, published the first Tintin adventure in the Catholic magazine Le Vingtième Siècle in 1929. The final, unfinished Tintin book, Tintin and Alph-Art, appeared in 1986, three years after Hergé’s death. During that time, Tintin evolved; the first volume, Tintin in the Land […]
She’s one of those singers who’s singing I dislike simply because I think it’s really poor and really weak but nevertheless made a bunch of really good tracks when everything was just right. And I tend to like the albums that everyone else seems to think are her worst. Anyway I think these are her best songs.
1. In My Dreams
2. Rose of Cimarron
3. Luxury Liner
4. Tulsa Queen
5. Tennessee Rose
7. How High the Moon
8. Bad Moon Rising
9. Ain’t Living Long like This
10. C’est la Vie. (You Never Can Tell)
I like how you’re digging into those early 1980s albums. Brian Ahern is a very good producer, and all those 1975-1983 albums sound really nice.
I like her voice – it’s thin and wispy, but I find it pretty. Works really well in duets though.
I forgot to put Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend in my top ten. I don’t really like the way she recites the lyrics like that but the rest of the track is great.
The Pearl would likely be my favourite.
Terrific lyrics, “Time is a brutal but a careless thief”
There’s some amazingly good songs on that record- I like Boy From Tupelo and One Big Love a lot as well.
These tunes are great. I think my favorite among them is Evangeline with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. These harmony voices sound so sweet, they almost make you cry.
There is something very captivating about Emmylou Harris. I can’t quite explain it. Undoubtedly, a large part is her voice.
Ironically, this is all coming from a guy who has said a million times he doesn’t like country. Though that has definitely changed in more recent years.
I think one of the best vocal performances I know that involves Emmylou Harris is the cover of Neil Young’s “After The Gold Rush,” which she also sang together with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. That version actually has made me cry!
Thanks for listening. She has a huge catalogue and it would be easy to find ten completely different songs.
People that know more than me have talked about how she’s kind of a precursor to Americana artists like Gillian Welch and Jason Isbell. She’s able to marry the authenticity of country with classy and contemporary production.
Have you seen her play Evangeline in The Last Waltz?
I’ve watched the movie, though it’s been a while. I’ll look for it.
I saw Emmylou Harris open up for John Mellencamp a few years ago and was really impressed!
Oh, wow, just pulled it up on YouTube, almost angelic!
Yeah, it’s nicely shot too – Danko looks cool.
I find pure country a bit hard to take sometimes but love the one-step-removed variety a la Neil Young. Evangeline is a great song and she brings a lot to it. Robbie Robertson wrote it just as The Last Waltz was about to wrap and got everyone to come in, learn it quickly and get it on tape. And it sounds like a 100 years old.
Yeah, impressive – wrote it quickly and it would have been a highlight on a 1970s Band album.
I’ve never heard that Daniel Lanois produced an Emmylou Harris’ record. And it is very good indeed.
Sorry to know that your father passed away. Knowing that Harry’s voice is something in common with him should comfort you.
Wrecking Ball is my favourite Harris album – Lanois is very involved, playing guitar and singing as well, and writing the opening song.
Sorry about your dad. A nice memory for you to have.
Thank you!
You can’t go wrong with her. I like Wayfaring Stranger and Those Memories Of You. That is just off the top of my head. I just heard Angel From Montgomery with her and John Prine the day after he passed that I really liked.
When you pointed me to “For No One” I loved it and kept listening to it.
I don’t know her catalog enough to have a favorite but I could hear her sing anything. She knows how to pick songs for herself.
She does a good Here, There and Everywhere too. She has good taste in covers.
I like how she transitions between doing Beatles covers and then something with Dolly Parton.
Sorry to hear about your dad. Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town (1978) Pieces of the Sky (1975), and Wrecking Ball (1995) are the albums I go back to the most from her disography. Will check out your song picks and the movie The Last Waltz
Those three records are all among her best I think- I’d add Roses in the Snow, Luxury Liner, and the Ballad if Sally Rose for a top 6.
Really sorry for your loss, Graham. Lovely to share some music with your pa.
Thank you! He tended to gravitate to the traditional stuff like Blue Kentucky Girl and At The Ryman, but nice we both liked her.
Good choices Aph, I first heard her on Parsons GP album. I have been listening to her since then. She has so many songs and albums and guested all over the place. One of the most recognizable voices I know. I will play the first song I ever heard her voice on and think of your dad. ‘We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning’. Take care.
Thank you! May have been the first song I heard her on too? Probably 30 years after you though…
We all get to the music sooner or later. I really like your comment on Emmy Lou in duets. I guess because of my first exposure with Parsons the duet thing is ingrained in my ear. Good call.
She’s clearly very good at it – majors in accompanying singers with shaky voices (Parsons, Dylan, Young, Bright Eyes).
Perfect. Plus hanging with rough characters like The Band.
While maintaining a wholesome, America’s sweetheart image.
I love almost everything Emmylou has ever done. The occasional fade or rasp in her voice just adds to the beauty of the song. Of her lesser known songs, I’d pick her version of Rodney Crowell’s wonderful “Till I gain control again” from Elite Hotel and the gorgeous sound of “Lonely street” from the fantastic Bluebird
I haven’t heard Bluebird – I listened to everything through to 1985 (except Gliding Bird) and then stuff from 1995-2000. I mean to come back to the in-between stuff sometime. She’s amazingly consistent.
Born to Run encapsulates Emmy Lou almost as well as Luxury Liner. You’d better believe the lyrics!
Thanks for writing in! She has so many good songs, 10 is obviously a tiny fraction of her worthy material.