As she prepares for what she calls her farewell tour of Europe, the legendary American singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris has no intention of hanging up her guitar for good. In an exclusive interview from her Nashville home, the 78-year-old icon, a revered figure in country, folk, and rock, reflects on a remarkable sixty-year journey that almost didn't happen.
From Folk Purist to Country-Rock Pioneer
Harris reveals that in her early days in the late 1960s, she was a dedicated folk singer who actively avoided country music. "I hadn't seen the light," she admits. "I believed you don't ever work with drummers as they wreck everything." That perspective was utterly transformed by her fateful partnership with Gram Parsons of The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers fame. Though their collaboration was tragically cut short by Parsons' accidental drug overdose in 1973 at age 26, his impact was indelible. "He had one foot in country and one in rock and was conversant in both," Harris says. "It changed my thinking completely."
This conversion led Harris to form the country-rock Hot Band and launch a solo career that saw her become a "venturesome, genre-transcending pathfinder," as described by Billboard. With 14 Grammy Awards, over 15 million records sold, and collaborations with greats from Bob Dylan to Dolly Parton, her legacy is assured. Yet, she still understands early scepticism towards country. "It can be corny!" she laughs. "When it misses, it misses really badly. But then you hear something like George Jones... there's a soulfulness that can elude you if you just look at the big picture."
Serendipity, Survival, and the Road to Stardom
Harris's path was not straightforward. After a failed first album and a broken marriage in the early 1970s, she found herself broke, on food stamps, and raising her infant daughter alone in Washington DC. "I had to go back to Maryland to my parents. I went home to mama. It was not a happy time," she recalls. Her big break came through sheer serendipity when her babysitter gave her number to Gram Parsons, who was seeking a female vocal partner.
After Parsons' death, Harris was "devastated on so many levels" and credits fellow singer Linda Ronstadt with helping her navigate her grief and restart her career. Ronstadt's advocacy in the close-knit music business was crucial. Harris's subsequent success as a solo artist and celebrated duettist, including on the beloved Trio albums with Ronstadt and Dolly Parton, cemented her status. "The chance to be around women and talk about girly things as well as making music together was just wonderful," she says of that collaboration.
The Farewell Tour, a Memoir, and Life Beyond Retirement
Now, Harris is set for her final European tour, which she views as a retrospective of her storied career. "I'm going to continue to sing and perform here in the States as long as they'll have me. But I won't be going across the Atlantic again," she explains. "I'm a real road dog and I do still love being out there, but it's hard. So I'm just keeping it local now."
Alongside music, she is slowly writing a memoir, which has surfaced powerful memories like her father's experience as a prisoner of war in Korea. She also runs Bonaparte's Retreat, a dog rescue centre in her Nashville backyard named after her late touring companion. "We adopt the bigger dogs, the older dogs, the ones that get left behind," she says.
For Harris, the concept of retirement holds little meaning. Quoting Willie Nelson, she says, "All I do is play golf and play music. Which one do you want me to give up?" She concludes with characteristic warmth and wit: "I think when you're an artist, you don't ever really retire. As I tell my friends, I don't know what I'm doing, but I sure am doing a lot of it."
Emmylou Harris's European farewell tour begins this month, with dates at Glasgow's Emirates Arena for Celtic Connections on 16 January and Dublin's 3Arena on 18 January, followed by further shows in May including London's Royal Albert Hall for the Highways festival.
