By G. Brown
Denver Post Popular Music Writer
At 56, Emmylou Harris seems to be enjoying a particularly creative period in her admired and influential career.
As a young woman, she moved to Nashville and carried on Gram Parsons' vision of marrying traditional country music to contemporary rhythms.
But she's pushed far beyond that sound. For the past decade, she's fashioned an acoustic sonic landscape rooted in folk, yet set apart by energetic percussion, world music elements and ethereal vocals.
The touching, enigmatic "Stumble Into Grace" is a continuation of the style. In support of the new record, Harris played the Paramount Theatre on Saturday night.
As a live performer, Harris has a reputation for assembling stellar road bands, which have included the Hot Band and the Nashville Ramblers.
Now it's Spyboy - Tony Hall on bass, Brady Blade on drums and guitar ace Buddy Miller, a trio capable of bridging her genre-transcending artistry. The new material included lots of spectral and atmospheric accents, and she used her exquisite voice for breathy expression and a raw, urgent edge.
Harris wrote or co-wrote almost all of the songs. Until recently, she didn't fancy herself much of a songwriter.
She introduced the shuffling "Jupiter Rising" as "the happiest song I ever wrote. ... I don't know what came over me!" It was countered by "Strong Hand," which she wrote for June Carter Cash before she died, and "Can You Hear Me Now," described as "my blues song. ... I'm much better now!"
"Time in Babylon" was Harris' idea of a protest song, taking on designer fashions and television culture. "Lost Unto This World" framed scenes of "all the young girls who are victims in the world."
Two tunes penned with Kate and Anna McGarrigle were highlights. Harris sat down with a baritone acoustic guitar for "I Will Dream," and the gentle but energetic textures of "Little Bird" were based on an exuberant Peruvian instrumental by Los Incas that she had heard on a world music compilation. "(It) melted my butter ... so we wrote some really sad words to it."
The rest of the set featured Harris' gift for uncovering the heart of a song. She dusted off "One of These Days" and "Together Again" from 1975's "Elite Motel," the latter dedicated to her former road manager/"mangler," the legendary Phil Kaufman. She also went back to the '70s for the No.1 C&W hit "Two More Bottles of Wine" and "Boulder to Birmingham."
Harris covered songs by Bob Dylan ("Every Grain of Sand") and Paul Kennerley ("Born to Run"), the latter driven by an incendiary Miller guitar solo. Other chestnuts included "Orphan Girl," "Wayfaring Stranger," "The Maker," an a cappella "Calling My Children Home," "Goin' Back to Harlan" from 1995's "Wrecking Ball" and the title track from 2000's "Red Dirt Girl."
For an encore, Harris offered John Lennon's "Imagine" ("A hymn of our generation"), Townes Van Zandt's classic "Pancho and Lefty" and "Michelangelo." She returned for a second encore, "Get Up John" from the acclaimed "At the Ryman" album, casually noting that she usually performs the song earlier in her sets - and the performance could have given a dead man goose flesh.
That's Harris - throwing away the rule book when most artists would be treading water. After three decades of confounding fans' expectations, she's making some of the most delightful music of her career.