Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana genre in the 1990s. Her music united both country and rock audiences in live performance settings. Her characteristic voice, musical style and songwriting have been acclaimed by critics and fellow recording artists.
Harris developed an interest in folk music in her early years, which led to her performing professionally. After moving to New York City in the 1960s, she recorded a folk album and performed regionally. She was discovered by Gram Parsons, who influenced her country rock direction. Following his 1973 death, Harris obtained her own recording contract from Reprise–Warner Bros. Her second album, Pieces of the Sky (1975), found both critical acclaim and commercial success. Follow-up 1970s albums further elevated Harris's career, such as Elite Hotel (1976), Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town (1978) and Blue Kentucky Girl (1979). By 1980, she had acquired five number-one songs on the US country charts: "Together Again", "Sweet Dreams", "Two More Bottles of Wine", "Beneath Still Waters" and "(Lost His Love) On Our Last Date".
Harris had a continued string of commercially and critically successful albums like Roses in the Snow (1980), Evangeline (1981) and Last Date (1982). Her backing group, the Hot Band, helped establish a musical foundation for her concerts and albums. Her 1980s albums spawned the top ten singles "Wayfaring Stranger", "Born to Run" and "Last Date". The 1985 album The Ballad of Sally Rose was among Harris's first self-written projects. The album (along with its follow-ups) failed to sustain the commercial momentum of previous albums. Harris then collaborated with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt on Trio (1987). The platinum-selling album was also a critical success that spawned four top ten singles.
In 1992, Warner Bros. released the live album At the Ryman. It garnered critical praise and renewed interest in its live venue, the Ryman Auditorium. Harris was inspired to move in a new musical direction with 1995's Wrecking Ball. She then reunited with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt for Trio II (1999). By the 2000s, Harris had signed with Nonesuch Records and recorded several albums of self-composed material like Red Dirt Girl (2000), All I Intended to Be (2008) and Hard Bargain (2011). She also found collaborative partnerships, such as with Mark Knopfler on the internationally successful All the Roadrunning (2006). She then collaborated with Rodney Crowell on the critically acclaimed Old Yellow Moon (2013) and The Traveling Kind (2015). She also became involved in activism during this time, including starting her own dog rescue called Bonaparte's Retreat.
Harris has been estimated to have sold over 15 million records worldwide. She has also earned 13 Grammy Awards, placed 27 singles into the top ten of the US country chart, and several of her albums have received gold certifications in the US. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008 and was ranked among Rolling Stone's list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time in 2022. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2025.
Harris was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1947. She was one of two children born to Walter Rutland Harris and Eugenia Harris. Her older brother, Walter Harris Jr., enjoyed country music in his youth. Her father was a Marine Corps officer who served in both World War II and the Korean War. In the latter, he was taken as a prisoner of war and was reported as missing in action. He was later released. "I never talked to him about his experiences. He wouldn't ever talk about it," she later reflected. The Harris family lived in Birmingham through their daughter's first grade school year. Her father was then transferred to Cherry Point, North Carolina, and later to Quantico, Virginia.
Harris took piano lessons as a child but she did not enjoy them. During her high school years, the family eventually settled in nearby Woodbridge, Virginia. Harris was a straight-A high school student at Gar-Field Senior High School, a cheerleader and a saxophonist in the marching band. She also won the "Miss Woodbridge" beauty pageant during her teen years. Classmates considered Harris unusual because she was devoted to her studies. Harris was among many adolescents interested in the American folk music revival of the 1960s. She became fascinated with folk artists of the era such as Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Buffy Sainte-Marie. Her grandfather gave Harris her first guitar, which she learned to play.
In 1965, Harris graduated from Gar-Field (which was desegregated shortly before she left) as the class valedictorian. She planned to become an actress and accepted a drama scholarship from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Harris began taking classes in the fall of 1965. She participated in the school's productions of The Tempest and The Dancing Donkey. Harris then formed a folk music duo with Mike Williams called the Emerald City. The duo worked a series of gigs in the local area, most of which were coffeehouses. Harris also played coffeehouses as a solo performer, primarily in one known as "The Corner".
In 1967, Harris dropped out of the University of North Carolina and enrolled at Boston University, but would soon drop out there as well. She ultimately chose to pursue a career as a folk singer full-time. Harris briefly moved to Virginia Beach, where she worked as a waitress and as a folk singer. She then left for New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood where there was a popular folk music scene. In 1969, Harris married her first husband Tom Slocum and soon gave birth to her first child.
1969–1974: Folk music and collaborations with Gram Parsons
Harris regularly worked the Greenwich Village music scene and developed friendships with fellow artists Jerry Jeff Walker, Dave Bromberg and Paul Siebel. She worked at several notable Greenwich Village clubs, including The Bitter End. She also supported herself by working as a waitress and bookstore cashier. Along with her husband and daughter, Harris lived at a nearby YWCA. Harris got her first manager and signed with Jubilee Records in 1969. The label released her debut studio album, Gliding Bird, in 1970. The disc featured several recordings penned by Harris herself, along with one penned by her first husband, Tom Slocum. Unlike her later recordings, Gliding Bird was released under the name "Emmy Lou Harris".
Jubilee Records declared bankruptcy shortly after Gliding Bird was released. Harris and her husband then decided to attempt a music career in Nashville, Tennessee. The couple divorced while in Nashville. Harris attempted to support herself and her daughter by working as a waitress. However, she was surviving on food stamps and Medicaid. Ultimately, she went back to live with her parents in the Maryland suburb of Clarksville, near Washington, D.C. Harris then obtained a hostessing job in Columbia, Maryland.
At the same time, Harris developed a following performing at clubs in Washington, D.C. and its surrounding suburbs. Yet, she was unconvinced she could make it as a music artist. "At that point, I'd retired forever from the music business," she recalled. Among the clubs Harris worked during this period was Clyde's and The Cellar Door. In 1971, she performed the country song "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" one evening at The Cellar Door, "almost as a joke", as she knew little about country music at that time. The Flying Burrito Brothers noticed her performing while they were drinking after a show and thought she had potential. Though singer-songwriter Gram Parsons had left the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers at this time, he was establishing a solo career and mentioned to the Burritos and friends that he was looking for a harmony singer. A conversation about her at a DC nightclub was overheard by the babysitter of Harris's daughter, who passed on her details, and Parsons got in contact the next day. Parsons went to hear Harris and was drawn to her singing ability. One year later, he sent her a plane ticket to Los Angeles, California where she recorded harmony vocals for his debut album GP in September–October 1972. After its release, the album failed to become successful and find a mainstream audience.