Telluride Daily Planet
By Susan Viebrock
Her voice is "silvery." Some critics say it's "pure gold." After 30 years, the nuanced strains are still as clear as the water in a high mountain stream. Bright as the sun on a Telluride blue-sky day. Searingly intense, despite a natural reticence. Never turbulent. Except for the emotions she stirs.
Waif or diva? It's hard to say. She's probably both. A paradox like the woman in the Dylan tune. We're aware our heroine can break like a little girl.
When you listen to her latest release, Red Dirt Girl, however, something's changed. The signature soaring sound has a more restrained, earthy quality. It is less fragile. There's more power in the self-assured delivery. Gone are the ribbons and beads. Sally Rose may just have grown up. With Red Dirt Girl, we are looking into the jewelry box of a mature woman and it's filled with luminous treasures.
An emblematic personality like Madonna, Sting, Willie, Lyle, audiences are on a first-name basis with her. Say "Emmylou" and a frisson of anticipated pleasure goes through a crowd.
When Emmylou Harris walks on to the Fred Shellman Memorial Stage tonight, the opening night of the 28th Telluride Bluegrass Festival, guaranteed she'll get what she gives. "I love the road," said Harris. "I love singing live for people. I love playing live with great musicians. I love the songs."
Who is Emmylou? The artist is not as generous with her personal story as she is with her talents. Facts are as scarce as hen's teeth, except when it comes to Gram Parsons. The poetry of Red Dirt Girl, however, reveals life lessons. It also tells tales on the writer, Emmylou, who penned all but one of the tracks.
Born April 2, 1947, in Birmingham, Ala., Emmylou grew up near Washington, D.C. "My southernness comes through in the title song of Red Dirt Girl, which is my Nonesuch label debut. I didn't know a Lillian, but I could have. She's a composite of lots of kids I met growing up. There is a verse about Lillian's brother, who dies in Vietnam. I say I was there when the telegram came. When I was only 5, I was standing next to my mom when we got word my dad was MIA in Korea. My dad was a pilot. 'Bang the Drum Slowly,' which I wrote with Guy Clark, is my elegy to him. But that time my dad did come back. Such is the way fiction blends into truth.
"I wrote The Ballad of Sally Rose in 1985. It was my concept LP. A 'concept record' is a euphemism for 'we don't hear a single.' I have to admit I was disappointed with what a disastrous commercial venture the record was. But I had to do it. There was no question. The words knocked at my door so insistently. I have no regrets. I still stand by that recording. Sally was drawn from Gram's and my story. However, I took a lot of license with her. A number of the songs, like 'Bad News,' were just plot devices. Sally was fictional, but draped in autobiographical robes. I believe all autobiography is fiction and all fiction is autobiography. Red Dirt Girl is more personal, though not as literal. I am not hiding behind a character like Sally on this album. I am on a much different mountain now. I have a different perspective and a different journey to talk about."
"The Pearl" is a philosophical contemplation in which Emmylou asks "If there's no heaven, what is this hunger for?" "I don't know how to explain my spirituality. I am not a conventionally religious person. It's not about fear of death. My favorite writer, Annie Dillard, asks some of the questions in her books I ask in 'The Pearl': Is it all for nothing? Can't be. Don't know if there's a better place. What does happen to us when we leave this life? For me, writing songs is all about expressing ideas that can't be expressed in any other way. I always know when I've got it right. Starts with a line. I follow the scent. 'The Pearl,' a pearl, is formed from a grain of sand, from irritation and pain. James Hillman wrote about the same thing. I scented out the archetype images. 'The Pearl' may be a metaphor for hope. There is redemption there."
Red Dirt Girl contains all sorts of love songs, mostly love never lasting: "I Don't Want to Talk About It"; "Tragedy"; and "My Antonia."
When Billboard magazine honored Emmylou last year with its prestigious Century Award, editor Timothy White praised the singer as a "truly venturesome, genre-transcending pathfinder." Red Dirt Girl moves easily from contemporary folk with "Hour of Gold," to alternative rock with "J'ai Fait Tout." Throughout her career, Emmylou has made love to aching ballads, done stomping rock, embraced old-timey folk, acoustic rap, reggae and all stops in between.
Who were her influences? When Emmylou was a teen, she won a beauty contest, Miss Woodbridge. Tiara, a scholarship and all. She also became passionate about music at about age 16. "I was especially enthralled by Joan Baez, Peter, Paul & Mary, Judy Collins and Bob Dylan. I am still influenced by Dylan."
As a college student in the late-60s, Emmylou sang with a local folk duo. She moved to Greenwich Village and played in happening clubs. She shared the stage with Jerry Jeff Walker and Dave Bromberg. She played in Nashville. She returned to regular club work in Washington, D.C., where rock pioneer Parsons discovered her and brought her back to Los Angeles to become his duet partner. That was 1972. "I may have lucked into the whole thing. Luck. Fate. Synchronicity. I am not sure. And I don't question what's shaped my career. I just know I am supposed to be doing what I am doing. I don't give myself much credit. I was never intensely musical or terribly disciplined. If Gram hadn't come into my life, who knows what would have become of me. Gram brought country to me and to other artists who might have dismissed the genre. Gram had a short life and a short career, but still he managed to show me how to sing. I have a very special place in my heart for Gram and that time. I produced Gram's tribute album not so much to celebrate his work - his work was never that well known - rather to introduce his music to a new generation of fans. A little known fact about Gram is that he let his food cool until it was almost cold before he'd eat it. He was really a very funny, very generous person. Very bright. I don't think Gram ever did damage or hurt any human being except himself."
After Parsons' death in 1973, Emmylou continued to explore the world of country music he had introduced to the young performer. She emerged as a solo artist with Pieces of Sky in 1975, the first of her eight consecutive million sellers. Today, Emmylou is regarded as the key figure in a movement which united rock audiences with country traditionalists.
Emmylou's musical associates are the who's who of modern country: Rodney Crowell, Tony Brown, Roseanne Cash, Vince Gill, Emory Gordy Jr. She championed the songwriting of Jesse Winchester, Townes Van Zandt, Delbert McClinton, Carlene Carter, Guy Clark and David Olney. She has recorded with artists from such diverse points on the musical compass as The Band, Johnny Cash, Leo Kottke, Steve Earle, Dylan, Little Feat, Tammy Wynette, Neil Young, Bill Monroe, The Chieftains, Lyle Lovett, John Denver, Ray Orbison, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and George Jones.
Produced by Malcolm Burn, Red Dirt Girl includes the talent of Buddy Miller on lead guitar; Daryl Johnson on bass and drums; Ethan Jones, drums, guitar and other instruments; and vocals by Kate McGarrigle, Patti Griffin, Julie Miller, Patti Scialfa, Dave Matthews and Bruce Springsteen.
Does Emmylou think of herself as a leader in her industry? "I don't really consider myself an influence. As far as a working woman on the road, yes. But a lot of us have been out there for a long time. My God, Bonnie Raitt has been out there for years. There's a lot of other great women: Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin. Tracey Chapman is making wonderful records. The McGarrigles have always made great records. I don't like the pressure that goes with the word 'leader.' I think if I've done anything, I've somehow managed to survive doing exactly what I wanted to do. I think I got into music at a very special time. I was just successful enough to be given a license to do whatever I wanted and be left alone."
And Telluride Bluegrass Festival? "There are so many memories. I remember Telluride's weather. Wearing a winter coat in June. Yet so happy to be up on that stage. Telluride Bluegrass is a celebration of music by the artists and the people who attend. I remember Sam Bush out there one freezing cold night. We could see our breath. Not a single person in the audience left. That is why we play music. I am so grateful to have been given the gift.
Music is like food, sustenance. You certainly don't do it for the spotlight. You do it for the amazing exhilaration of singing, the feeling of the music going through you."