EmmyLou Harris in Edmonton, Canada

Emmy Lou Harris
Jubilee Auditorium
Monday, February 12, 2007
8 p.m.
www.canada.com

You can learn a lot about a person by the company he or she keeps. Good people attract other good people, whereas unbearable monster divas end up alone.

Emmylou Harris must be a very good person. Not only does she have a sweet Southern voice she has parlayed into a 35-year-plus solo career (with more than a few top 40 singles and a sackful of Grammys to go along with it), but her track record with high-profile collaborations is also successful.

The list reads like a who’s who of music: Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt on several occasions, Willie Nelson, Mark Knopfler, Steve Earle, Nanci Griffith, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and on and on. More recently, the youngsters are summoning up the courage to ask for a dance — Beck, alt-country kid Ryan Adams and indie-rock darling Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes have each asked her to join in on a couple of tracks.

As a solo artist, her tremendous talent is undisputed. But she has proven herself to be much more than just another Nashville pretty with a knack for singing. Because, as the Wizard told the Tin Man, “A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved.”

Leave a Reply