After Dinner Speakers: Emmylou Harris, Darcus Howe, Frank Skinner

Even though she grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, in America's deep South, Emmylou Harris, the first lady of contemporary country music, was never a lifelong country devotee. It was while working with the late Gram Parsons in the early 1970s that she caught his fever for the rigidly expressive, high-droning sound of old-fashioned country which he introduced to her on the records of people like Lefty Frizzell, early George Jones, Hank Williams and especially the great harmony duos, The Louvin Brothers and the young Everly Brothers. In the ensuing years, she has ensured that the roots of country music were not forgotten and, like Parsons before her, has played a pivotal role in bringing genuine country music to a new audience. A master interpreter of other writers' works for more than 30 years, Emmylou has always demonstrated fine taste and technical precision, and has been uncommonly intelligent in her choice of songs: the material is as sentimental as it has to be, but never mawkish, walking a careful tightrope between old-fashioned traditionalism and Harris' own modern sensibility. Throughout she has worked closely with other equally inspired artists, ranging from her Trio partners Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton, to bluegrass, rock and country singers and musicians, all of whom have that musical integrity. Born on 2 April 1949, the daughter of a career US Marine, Emmylou's first serious musical inclinations came through folk music. In her teens her family moved to Quantico, Virginia and she listened avidly to the folk programmes coming out of Washington DC. She bought a guitar, started listening to Bob Dylan, and performed in local folk clubs and also in Greenwich Village, New York. She recorded a folksy album, Gliding Bird, for the Jubilee label in 1969. The title song was written by her first husband, Tom Slocum. She was playing small clubs in Washingon DC when Gram Parsons, who was looking for a female harmony singer, was urged to go and see her. Obviously impressed, he asked Emmylou to move to Los Angeles to work on his first solo album, G.P. Gram, Emmylou and The Fallen Angel Band embarked on a short tour then started work on a second album. Parsons' death occurred shortly after the completion of Grievous Angel in 1973, the album becoming a posthumous success and in a way paving the way for an Emmylou Harris solo career. Signed to Reprise Records in 1974, she delivered the highly acclaimed Pieces Of The Sky album the following year. Though not a runaway success, her version of The Louvin Brothers’ If I Could Only Win Your Love did make the Country Top Ten. 1976's Elite Hotel more than matched the quality and musical integrity of her debut, and country chart success continued with the chart-topping Together Again. On this early work, especially with the first Hot Band, she showed signs of developing a real personality. Then she tended to get bogged down by Nashville conventions, generally taking refuge in an impersonal, rather empty vocal perfection, and her records failed to get to the listener emotionally. Just too tasteful to cut to the bone. For some time her remarkable consistency led to a certain sameness among her recordings, but when she took a sideways step into roots music with the bluegrass-flavoured Blue Kentucky Girl and Roses In the Snow, both masterminded by a young Ricky Skaggs, she was back on track. Emmylou's sense of musical adventure has not at all been confined solely to the studio. Her Hot Band, in all of its various line-ups, was simply the hottest band out there on the country circuit. When in 1991 that band ceased to exist, she put together the Nash Ramblers, an acoustic group that took to the road and recorded Emmylou Harris At the Ryman. It was a stunning record, but a commercial flop. Her last Country Top 10 entry had been 1989's Heartbreak Hill. In 1992, she moved across to Asylum Records, but was still expected to court country radio. By now she had really become much too eclectic for that. She took a lengthy hiatus from the studios before teaming up with rock producer Daniel Lanois for 1995's innovative Wrecking Ball album, which brought Emmylou in contact with a new youth-oriented, alternative rock audience, in much the same way that Pieces Of The Sky and Luxury Liner had done 20 years earlier. It was a bold move that revitalised a rapidly fading recording career, but it also moved a traditional-slanted performer away from country music. Though Wrecking Ball won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Recording, many long-time Emmylou Harris fans wrung their hands in frustration. Unperturbed, she put together the Spyboy Band, cut a live album and then returned to the studio for Red Dirt Girl, only the second solo album for which she has written the bulk of the songs. Possibly her most personal, her most intimate – in fact her finest album in a career full of memorable ones, it showcases the diversity of influences in Harris's musical palette, from folky Americana and rock-reflective seasonings to traditional country. Harris was heavily involved in the 2001 CMA Album Of The Year O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and received a nomination for Don’t Leave Nobody But The Baby, her collaboration with Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch from the album. Emmylou Harris continues to be prolific, inspirational, and not about resting on past successes.