Now why would a venerable country music singer like Emmylou Harris turn up unannounced in Hanoi?And just what has she been doing since her memorable duets with Gram Parsons narrowed the divide between pop and country back in the early 1970's?
Such queries tumbled around my head as I sped off at a moments notice to wing it through another interview. " Ask her about when she had hair down to her ankles," a colleague suggested. "And how many Grammy awards she has won."
The hair turned out to be a case of mistaken identity but Emmylou took it in her stride. "Naah, that's Crystal Gayle," she says, shaking her own stunningly silver tress of shoulder-length hair. The tip about the Grammys however, was spot on. Her most recent album, Wrecking Ball, garnered the singer her seventh prize at the prestigious awards and continued to enhance her profile as one of the defining voices of American contemporary music.
"I have to brag a little about that one because I'm so proud," she smiles, adjusting her rose-coloured glasses. "I was up against Bob Dylan, John Prine, The Chieftains and Steve Earle for Best Contemporary Folk album - and the judges picked me."
Emmylou Harris's profile and credibility within the music industry was precisely why her old pal Gail Griffith thought of linking her up with the campaign to ban land mines.
The pair's relationship dates back to Emmylou's early days in small clubs in Washington D.C. And while they had always kept in touch, it was not until after Emmylou read an article about land mines in a New York magazine that the twosome began working on this issue together.
"I guess you can become so isolated from the real world living in the U.S.," Emmylou admits. "And when I read that there were 10 million land mines waiting to go off in countries like Angola, Cambodia and even Vietnam, it shocked me."
She phoned Griffith, who works for the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), and discovered that there was a way she could help.
There are 1,000 Non- Government Organizations working under the umbrella of VVAF which not only help to rehabilitate war victims but support the efforts to have land mines abolished worldwide.
Which is where Emmylou Harris comes in.
"I've been trundled around the White House and met senators, asked for support and posed for pictures," the singer says. "I know my place, I'm just just a photo opportunity."
And now she is in Vietnam, travelling with VVAF president Bobby Muller and speaking to all and sundry to raise awareness about the landmines issue.
Griffith stresses the importance of having high-profile and celebrity support for bringing such an issue to public attention.
"You can never underestimate the importance of a well-respected figurehead," Griffith says. "Princess Diana's speech three weeks before she died - when she called for a total ban on landmines after visiting Bosnia and Angola - was the best thing that could have happened to our campaign."
Apart from traipsing around political corridors, Emmylou has used her concert performances to raise the profile of the anti-landmines campaign. She is also trying to gather support from the music community where she lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
"I've been playing phone tag with Johnny Cash and I think people like Steve Earle and Bruce Springsteen are also interested," she says with genuine hope.
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