At a time when American country stars are brashly embracing the Maga movement en masse, it was refreshing to see Emmylou Harris presenting the genre’s gentler side on her farewell UK tour. The silver-maned, 79-year-old Queen of Americana treated the opening-night audience at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall to almost two hours of intricate bluegrass and country standards – as well as one of the greatest Beatles covers I’ve ever heard. Harris may never have had the hits of a Dolly Parton or Tammy Wynette, but her back catalogue of often slow and perpetually yearning music makes for enthralling listening.
Backed by a masterful five-piece band, who swapped keyboards for accordions and mandolins for fiddles, Harris opened by duetting with Jim Lauderdale (her support act) on Love Hurts. It’s a song she initially recorded more than half a century ago, with former Byrds member Gram Parsons, whose shadow loomed large over this concert. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1947, Harris started out as a folk singer and was on the verge of quitting when she was effectively discovered by Parsons after she performed in a club in 1971. Harris became his harmony singer, until he died from a drug and alcohol overdose two years later, aged 26.
On Monday night, Harris performed two songs she wrote about her musical soulmate. The Road was moving, but the haunting Boulder to Birmingham punched even harder. “I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham,” she sang, “if I thought I could see your face.” Between songs, Harris didn’t say much about Parsons; she didn’t need to.
Her rendition of Pancho & Lefty by Texan Townes Van Zandt was a joy, but it was her take on a more local gang that stole the show. “I went to the Cavern, where it all started,” she said of the Liverpool club where the Beatles found fame. “I think about it all the time.” She then played For No One from the Fab Four’s 1966 album Revolver, a song she recorded in 1975. Slowed down, it dripped with pathos.
It wasn’t all slow though. Get Up John and Chuck Berry’s You Never Can Tell (a stand-out on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack) became stomping hoedowns. Being on the road takes its toll – Harris paused to loosen a stiff wrist and her voice was occasionally strained – which is why this tour of Europe will be her last. It was sad to sense a chapter closing.
For all the recent politicisation of country music, this show was a reminder that the genre is more about small moments – moments that happen within the ribcage – than grand posturing. “I’ve never had big hits, but I think I recorded songs that touched your hearts, as they touched mine,” Harris said. “I’m going to miss you people.” The feeling’s mutual, Emmylou.