INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Emmylou looks back on her career and big break

Emmylou Harris finally got her due at a mid-March tribute show staged during the Austin, Texas, mega-festival South by Southwest.

On one star-studded night, a group of respected singer-songwriters — including Charlie Louvin, Charlie Sexton, Elizabeth Cook, Kelly Willis, Bruce Robison and Harris’ own frequent backing guitarist Buddy Miller — gathered in the ballroom of Austin’s Driskill Hotel to perform several of Harris’ songs as part of a tribute to Harris, her long and successful career and the release of her box set, Songbird, a collection that features numerous previously unreleased tunes.

But a few hours before then, Harris sat before a large ballroom crowd sharing memories and insights into her music and life. Filmmaker Jonathan Demme took on the role of host and journalist.

And while it was impossible to cover every phase of Harris’ career, Demme and Harris did touch on such notable topics as her relationship with the late singer/songwriter Gram Parsons, several of Harris’ landmark songs and the critically acclaimed backing bands that have helped bring her music to life.

Demme approached the subject of Parsons with caution, asking Harris if it was OK to talk about him. What followed were some poignant memories and stories about Parsons, who died in September 1973, and gave Harris her break by featuring her vocals on his landmark country rock albums G.P. and Grievous Angel.

Harris met Parsons through what can only be described as a serendipitous set of circumstances when she was a young single mother and struggling singer in Washington, D.C.

“I cannot believe that was not destined to happen,” Harris said.

Harris told the story of how Parsons came to Baltimore to see the band he had recently left, the Flying Burrito Brothers. Backstage, he met up with guitarist/singer Chris Hillman, who asked what Parsons was doing musically.

“Well, I’m going to do a solo record,” Parsons replied. “I’m looking for a girl to sing some traditional, like Conway Twitty/Loretta Lynn, Melba Montgomery/George Jones harmonies.”

The night before Hillman had seen a young singer he thought might fit that bill. The only problem was he didn’t know her name.

“I had a babysitter who loved to go to all the concerts in the area of Baltimore,” Harris said. “She knew all the promoters. And she was backstage and Chris Hillman and Gram were talking.

“And [she] goes, ‘I baby sit for her daughter,’” Harris said. “The next thing I know I get a phone call from this guy who says his name is Gram Parsons, who I’d never heard of. I guess the rest is history. He came down and sang with me in the same little club that the Burritos had seen me in, and said I’ll call you. Of course, I was a cynical woman of 26 who had given up on the music business really and was struggling to make a living to support myself and my daughter and didn’t really think I’d ever hear from him again. So it’s so amazing how life works.”

Harris, of course, was devastated when Parsons died.

“Gram was such an incredible, vibrant part of my life,” she said. “I mean, everything depended on him. I had discovered music and I was infused with this, I had found my lot in life. I wanted to sing with him. There was so much I wanted to learn from him, do with him. And then one day he was alive and the next day he’s dead. And the shock, I didn’t really know how to deal with grief.”

Harris co-wrote the song “Boulder to Birmingham” about Parsons, and the profound loss she felt. It appeared on her first solo album, Pieces of the Sky, which was recorded after Warner Bros. Records scouted one of her shows in Washington, D.C., and signed her. This began a partnership that would continue into the 1990s. (She has since recorded for Elektra and her current label, Nonesuch.)

Harris rewarded Warner Bros. with a long run of (mostly) acclaimed albums, including a few that charted strongly (1976’s Elite Hotel, 1980’s Roses in the Snow and her collaboration with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt on the 1987 album Trio), as well as a good number of hit singles.

While Harris’ many albums have sold a combined 15 million copies, she never became a first tier country hitmaker. But she has amassed a catalog that says volumes about her artistic integrity, and her love of meaningful country, bluegrass and rootsy pop. As a singer whose catalog is made up mostly of outside material, she has an ability to spot a gem of a song she can make her own.

Perhaps Harris’ other main legacy will be as a bandleader. Her various backing groups, such as the Hot Band, the Nash Ramblers and Spyboy, have been among the most admired in contemporary music and have included many musicians who have achieved success in their own right, including Rodney Crowell, Ricky Skaggs, Albert Lee and Sam Bush.

The interview with Demme gave Harris plenty of opportunities to reflect on favorite songs, favorite friends within music and favorite memories from a rich career that remains vital and vibrant today. Thinking in the big picture prompted Harris to ponder again how different her life would have been had she not crossed paths with Parsons.

“Because of Gram I took a track, a wonderful track, that has brought me more than I can imagine, not just in the sense of actual work,” Harris said. “We [Demme and Harris] talked last night about how important it is when a person finds that thing that they’re really good at, that they love to do. It’s a blessing. It’s what we all hope for our children. If nothing else, we hope for that. I was able to find that through working with Gram.”

WHO Three Girls and their Buddy: Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, Buddy Miller

WHEN Friday, Jan. 18, 8 p.m.

WHERE Clowes Memorial Hall, 4602 Sunset Ave.

TICKETS $49.50 & $39.50, Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com) or Clowes Hall box office (Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.), 1-800-732-0804 or 317-940-6444