Happy Birthday, Emmylou

Emmylou Harris, my "sweetheart of the rodeo," was born on this day in 1947. She played many of the local clubs and coffee houses in and around DC when I was there around 1970. Unfortunately, I wasn't into the folk-blue grass sound at the time and, therefore, not in the audience. Still, it was impossible not to see and hear the advertising in and around Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Silver Spring. Eventually, she moved to Los Angeles to work with Gram Parsons and his band, The Grievous Angels. When he died in 1973, she was devastated, but carried on Parsons's search for the fusion sound he called "cosmic American music." Two years later, with the release of her album, Pieces of the Sky, she was on her way. The sound Harris and Parsons produced in their short time together would have a significant impact on decades of folk, rock, and country music to follow.

Here is the song she wrote with Bill Danoff as a tribute to Parsons:





Harris's career as a songwriter and entertainer just seems to keep going and going without an end in sight.  And she keeps getting better year after year. May her beauty and sound go on forever.

UPDATE: Scott Johnson has a fine birthday tribute to Harris on his post at Powerline, plus a link to more comments and videos on a post by Norman Geras..

This is an edit and improvement on a post that first appeared on this day in 2009.