THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
London may be one of the best places in the world for country music. Even though it's a long way from Nashville or Austin, almost everyone – from those starting out to those finishing up – plays London. One of the British capital’s more unexpected venues for country concerts is Royal Albert Hall. It's no Ryman Auditorium, the iconic Nashville venue considered the ‘mother church’ of country music. But it's the place to be if you're a country music lover, especially during the Highways Festival. Now in it’s fourth year, the Festival brought Emmylou Harris to the Royal Albert Hall.
She’s been there before, of course, but this year was special as Harris calls time on her 50-year career as a standout country performer.
Over the decades, Harris has covered everybody's songs, written her own, and performed and recorded with everybody who's anybody, not only in country music but across genres. With 14 Grammys, she shines brighter than almost anyone else in the firmament of country stars.
But at 79, a question hung over Harris as she took the stage at the Highways Festival: Does she still have the voice?
The answer was unequivocal: Yes.
The stage setting was simple. No elaborate backdrop, no jumbotron, just instruments, microphones and monitors. One of the highlights was when Harris and three members of her Red Dirt Band walked to the edge of the stage, announced that there was no AI and just sang, without mics, ‘Prayer in Open D’ with only a bit of floor bass background.
The concert started with the understated opening act, Jim Lauderdale. While Lauderdale is probably better known as a songwriter, he's also an accomplished performer. He performed nine songs that showcased a variety of styles including bluegrass and classic country. Two of the highlights were ‘Patchwork River’ and ‘Head for the Hills’. Both were penned with the poet and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. Incidentally, both were the title songs on two of Lauderdale’s albums.
When Harris came on, she brought Lauderdale back to join her on ‘Love Hurts’. She initially recorded the song with Gram Parsons, who is credited with bringing Harris into prominence. She'd been a folk singer, cut one album, married, had a child, divorced, and had to move back in with her parents. She was waitressing and playing clubs when Parsons heard her and a year later, sent her a ticket to Los Angeles to sing backup. She never looked back.
Harris and Lauderdale's rendering of ‘Love Hurts’ was exceptional: clear, bright, and powerful. As the song ended, Harris's band joined her and they were off and running for the next 90 minutes. It was an energetic showcase of the some of the best of country songwriting. Harris covered songs by George Jones, Nanci Griffith, Ralph Stanley, Gillian Welch, Delbert McClinton, Bill Monroe, Steve Earle and two by Townes Van Zandt, including his classic ‘Pancho and Lefty’. There were also three songs by British writers; Mark Knopfler’s ‘All the Road Running’ and two from Paul Kennerley’s concept album The Legend of Jesse James.
Harris has a relaxed stage presence and a slightly self-deprecating tone. Muffing an intro she noted that it was fine to make a mistake as she had written the song. She commented on her own happy childhood while introducing the song ‘Red Dirt Girl’, which tells the story of a young woman’s sad life in a small town.
The singer’s introduction to almost every number told a story; sometimes about her friendship with the author of the song. There were nods to the greats of country music. Kitty Wells, said Harris, was the first country music queen. She ended with Neil Young’s ‘Long May They Run’ and was brought back onstage for an encore, ‘Together Again’ by Buck Owens.
This was a memorable concert, not least because it marked the end of an era. Harris knew many of the writers whose songs she sang. She performed, recorded and lived among them. This gives her a personal insight into those songs. While they will probably continue to be sung, no one will have the same personal connection to the words and their writers as Harris.
Billed as her European farewell tour, Royal Albert Hall was her penultimate performance in the UK. In August, she'll be performing at the Long Roads Festival. But as she said, Royal Albert Hall was her last performance in London. She goes out on a high.
