At Last, Emmylou Harris Joins Her Heroes
Posted: February 12th, 2008 at 12:00 pm |
Craig Shelburne
CMT.om
I am delighted to learn this morning that Emmylou Harris will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this year. She is one of the shining lights in my music collection, and I admire her so much for her contributions to the city of Nashville. Back then they were thinking about tearing down the Ryman Auditorium -- which astounds me that anybody would ever consider that -- she staged a concert in there, and people realized just what they'd be missing. That was the first Emmylou album I ever bought, when I was a teenager. She's also an advocate for dogs, so much so that she built a shelter in her backyard.
Just last week, I was on the Cayamo songwriters cruise with Emmylou, and her performance closed out the series of late-night concerts. She didn't breathe a word of this induction, but I know the place would have gone nuts if she had. People who love music can't get enough of her. I think she deserves a lot of credit for being a good ambassador for country music abroad. On several occasions, I met Europeans on the cruise who came specifically to hear her. I can't tell you exactly how many times I've seen her perform - probably nine or ten - but each and every time, I have felt grateful for the experience. She connects with songs, and the world falls away for me when she's the one singing them.
I'm a fan of her more recent work too, but I never tire of her early catalog, like "Boulder to Birmingham," "Together Again," "One of These Days," "Easy From Now On," "Beneath Still Waters" and, of course, "Pancho & Lefty." Someday I hope Gram Parsons will join her in the Hall of Fame, too. But who can argue with an induction class that includes Tom T. Hall, the Statler Brothers and Ernest "Pop" Stoneman.
----------------------------------------------------------
Emmylou Harris, Statler Bros. among Country Hall inductees
2/12/2008, 1:10 p.m. CST
By JOHN GEROME
The Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, the Statler Brothers and the late Ernest "Pop" Stoneman will become the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, officials announced Tuesday.
Harris, a Birmingham, Ala., native who first became known for her duet work with Gram Parsons in the 1970s, was called one of the most revered song interpreters on the planet by Tammy Genovese, CEO of the Country Music Association.
After Parsons' death in 1973, Harris began a successful solo career that spanned across pop, country rock and Americana and earned her 12 Grammys. Her most commercially successful album was a 1987 project with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton called "Trio."
"I've been thinking about this incredible journey I've been on and how I've been blessed," Harris said. "It's wonderful to be a member of this place that holds so much reverence for me."
The Statler Brothers, originally from Staunton, Va., were first hired as a vocal backing group by Johnny Cash and had their first hit in 1965 with "Flowers On The Wall," for which they won a Grammy. They had several more Top 40 hits through the 1970s and 1980s, including "The Class of '57," "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine," and "I'll Go To My Grave Loving You."
"We feel like we're in rarified air here, we never expected to be here," said Don Reid, who with Harold was one of the only two brothers in the group. "We always looked at the Hall of Fame as a place where our heroes were."
Tom T. Hall, originally from Olive Hall, Ky., is best known as a songwriter who jumpstarted his solo career following Jeannie C. Reilly's No. 1 hit with his "Harper Valley PTA."
As a versatile writer and performer, Hall was a top touring and radio act in the '70s and has written children's songs, several novels and produced a PBS special on bluegrass.
Tex Ritter once called Hall a "storyteller," and the tag stuck.
"It's very spiritual," Hall said of the honor. "I'm delighted to be standing where I am today."
Traditionally, the Country Music Association inducts one recipient in three separate categories of career achievement: Between 1975 and present, between World War II and 1975, and pre-WWII.
But this year there was a tie in the voting for the period between WWII and 1975, so both Hall and the Statler Brothers will be inducted in that category.
Stoneman, a Galax, Va., native who died in 1968, wrote and recorded one of the biggest hits of the 1920s, "The Sinking of the Titanic." It was one of the first country records to sell more than a million copies and began a string of recordings through the '20s with his wife and family members.
He helped convince record producer Ralph Peer, a Hall of Fame member, to go to the Bristol area on the Tennessee-Virginia border and hold recording sessions that are widely considered a watershed in country music.
Many of the "hillbilly" records released before these sessions were recorded in New York by crossover artists, and the Bristol recordings of the Stonemans, the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers marked the beginning of commercial country music industry.
"Johnny Cash called it the Big Bang of country music," Grand Ole Opry announcer and historian Eddie Stubbs said of the Bristol sessions. "If this is so, then Ernest Stoneman lit the match for it all."
[Edited by Ten Thousand Motels]
12th February 2008 09:16 PM
lotsajizz
I love Emmylou..great singer
and a hottie!
12th February 2008 09:27 PM
Ten Thousand Motels
Lets give her a spin....
13th February 2008 07:28 AM
UGot2Rollme
really like her collaboration with Knopfler. Hope they do it again.
13th February 2008 07:53 AM
Gazza
"I am delighted to learn this morning that Emmylou Harris will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this year"
Find it pretty amazing to discover that she hasnt been long ago.
She's terrific. Still looks great for her age, too.
[Edited by Gazza]
13th February 2008 09:02 AM
Ade
about time too
13th February 2008 12:19 PM
Martha
She is great. Last time I saw her live was with Elvis Costello and Larry Campbell in tow. We had 6th row seats dead center at The Fraze in Dayton. Elvis looked right into my eyes time and time again, he's the opposite of Bob that way. LOL Emmy looked great that night and sounded even better.
She's touring this summer with John Prine. I just got tix for the show at Red Rocks June 6th. Should be a gem*. :-)
peace and love,
Martha
13th February 2008 03:35 PM
gimmekeef
quote:Gazza wrote:
"I am delighted to learn this morning that Emmylou Harris will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this year"
Find it pretty amazing to discover that she hasnt been long ago.
She's terrific. Still looks great for her age, too.
[Edited by Gazza]
Unlike the R& R hall maybe the country hall has some integrity as to who gets in ..and when..Soon though there will be a run on guys in big dumb plastic molded cowboy hats
13th February 2008 10:57 PM
Sioux
quote:Gazza wrote:
Find it pretty amazing to discover that she hasnt been long ago.
I was thinking the same thing. And then it said that Tom T. Hall and the Statlers were also being inducted. Seems that they would have been in there by now too. So, yeah, maybe they are much more discriminating than the R&RHOF is.
Search for information in the wet page, the archives and this board:
NEW: SEARCH ZONE:
Search for goods, you'll find the impossible collector's item!!!
