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Music minus the gimmicks

David Sue
10/ 9/2008

WHETHER it be Dolly Parton or even Johnny Cash, it’s not uncommon for country musicians to develop an exaggerated persona, a sort of cartoonish version of themselves.

Emmylou Harris, on the other hand, is one country star who’s never used any gimmicks.

But that’s not to say she lacks star quality.

To her huge and devoted fanbase, the 61-year-old from Alabama is one musician who’s always lived her life through her music, and vice versa.

She’s the country artist who’s eager to strip away the mystique and is happy to present herself as a three-dimensional woman complete with all her pains, her baggage but, most of all, her real gutsy fighting power.

Starting her recording career in 1970, Emmylou Harris is widely regarded as the woman who boldly dispensed with the stereotypes and prejudices surrounding country music during the Seventies.

Blessed with one of the most affecting, heart-wrenching voices in country music, Harris is the singer who reminds us that the best country music isn’t just about cowboy hats and whiskey consumption.

It’s much more about soundtracking those melancholic, lonesome dark nights of the soul.

Over an incredible 30-year career, in which she’s recorded 20 albums, Harris has been a regular fixture in the country music hall of fame, both on her own, and in partnership with greats like Gram Parsons (her original mentor), Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and more recently, with younger acts like Conor Oberst.

Still touring, still recording and still winning over new, younger audiences, Emmylou Harris has surely cemented her place in country music legend – not that you’ll ever see this charmingly unstarry singer ever make a big fuss about it.

Emmylou Harris will play the Bridgewater Hall on Saturday, September 13. Tickets, priced £32.50 to £37.50, can be bought by calling 0161 907 9000 or at www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk.