Emmylou Harris interviewed: “I was faced with a conundrum”

With a new, expanded edition of her Spyboy live album due, Emmylou Harris talks to Uncut about the album, her collaborations with Daniel Lanois and Buddy Miller, covering Tom Petty, co-writing with Kate and Anna McGarrigle and what’s next…

“It was a powerhouse band”

UNCUT: Why is Spyboy so important to you?
HARRIS: After I did Wrecking Ball [1995], I was faced with a conundrum. It was very different for me in terms of instrumentation and rhythms. So I thought, ‘How am I going to tour this record?’ Of course, Dan [Lanois, producer of Wrecking Ball] stepped up. He brought in Daryl Johnson [bass], and Brady Blade [drums], who I think he’d played with five years earlier or something. So we put the band Spyboy together and hit the road. But Dan was a temporary thing, he was really just sort of showing me the way. Even when we were recording Wrecking Ball, I was thinking about Buddy Miller. I’d met him when I had my band, The Nash Ramblers, and Buddy had been playing with Jim Lauderdale, who was opening for us. I knew that Buddy and his wife, Julie, had moved to Nashville. So I sort of thought, in the back of my mind, that perhaps, after Dan left, Buddy might be the guy. Of course, he was. I mean, what can I say about Buddy? He’s astonishing.

What did he bring to the table?
He loves music, and he’s just got this incredible ability and sensitivity in a song. And he just plays the shit out of the guitar. He could play all the old country stuff and all the Wrecking Ball stuff. And of course he’s a fantastic singer. It was just so inspiring. That whole band was inspiring. It was a powerhouse band, but it was Buddy who, on his own, decided to bring along some recording equipment. I didn’t even know we were recording. He said, in his typically self-deprecating manner, that he just wanted to be able to prove that it was actually quite a good band. Of course, when it came time for me to deliver a new album, there were all these shows that we’d recorded and gleaned. So we made a record out of those.

“I went back to quieter instruments”

You’ve credited Spyboy with reinvigorating you as a singer…
Actually, I would also say that Wrecking Ball did that. And even before that, with the Ramblers, going back to bluegrass school, as Chris Hillman calls it. I went back to quieter instruments, and I had these great bluegrass superstars. And sort of concentrated on the vocal, so that I could hear myself better. We would have probably continued with that, but, at some point, I just found that I needed to do something new. I think that’s important for an artist. My record company at the time, Warners in Nashville, had new people in charge, and they really felt they could get me and Guy Clark back on the country charts. But it didn’t happen. Radio had kind of shut its doors to me. So they came to me and said, “We really tried our best here. What do you want to do next?” And because I’d been listening to Daniel’s solo record [1993’s For The Beauty Of Wynona], and the one he produced for Dylan [1989’s Oh Mercy], I said I wanted to work with him. It’s all a progression. You just want to do something that excites you. So that led to Wrecking Ball, which then led to Spyboy.

And in its own way, did Spyboy prepare the ground for 2000’s Red Dirt Girl?
Not exactly. It gets back to that same thing about doing something new. At that point, I thought that I’d probably work with Daniel again on a record, since Wrecking Ball had really reinvigorated me, artistically. But he had other things to do. Actually, he and Guy Clark both sort of said, “Y’know, you need to write.” And that was really the only new territory that I could explore as an artist. So I went into the writing room and did Red Dirt Girl with Malcolm Burn [producer]. And then we did the next record together too [2003’s Stumble Into Grace]. So it was just like stepping stones, one record after the other, ‘til I’m actually at the place now where I don’t intend to make any more records. That’s why I’m so excited about the re-release of Spyboy.

“A good song can work in the hands of different musicians”

With various interpretations of songs by others, Spyboy also showcases you as a classic song-gatherer…
I’ve basically spent the main part of my career as an interpreter of other people’s songs. And a good song can work in the hands of different musicians. That’s what’s so great about it. It takes on a new life and a fresh emotional impact.

What about the five extra tracks on the new edition of Spyboy?
Buddy keeps everything, and he mentioned to me that there were these extra tracks. Let me back up a little. I didn’t think that Spyboy got its due, really, when it came out. I just felt it was another good record. And then, of course, I moved on to Red Dirt Girl. So I went to another place, put on the writing hat. But the opportunity to revisit the original album was exciting, and the fact that there were these previously unreleased tracks that Buddy played for me. I just thought they were amazing. When I heard [Tom Petty’s] “A Thing About You”, both Buddy and I had completely forgotten that we’d recorded that.

“I thought it was unique”

Seriously?
Yeah. I don’t think we played it a lot. I think there was maybe only one or two takes of it, because it’s not like I did the same show every night. So I just was so excited about the prospect of that record being given another chance for people to hear it. I’m so proud of that band. I thought it was so unique in the annals of my performing career.

Lucinda Williams’ “Sweet Old World” and Bob Dylan’s “Every Grain Of Sand” are reprised from Wrecking Ball. But what about Bill Monroe’s “Get Up John”?
“Get Up John” had been a real showpiece with The Nash Ramblers. That’s another example of how a song can evolve in performance, because it came from a mandolin piece by Bill Monroe and featured Sam Bush, the impresario of mandolin. So it was a great song, but I didn’t have a mandolin or any acoustic instruments in Spyboy. And once again, Buddy and that incredible rhythm section just took off and went into a completely different place with it.

And “All I Left Behind” was co-written with Kate and Anna McGarrigle…
Around the time of Red Dirt Girl, I was doing all that writing. I don’t write with a lot of people, but I’ve always loved Kate and Anna’s work. I found myself going up to their childhood home in Saint-Sauveur, outside of Montreal, and doing some writing. While I was working on Red Dirt Girl, I had the beginnings of that song, then I brought it up there to them and we finished it together. But at the same time that I was doing Red Dirt Girl, I was working on an album of duets with Linda Ronstadt and Glyn Johns, who was producing for us in Tucson [1999’s Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions]. The McGarrigles did background vocals on that song for that record. At some of the shows we did, I was able to have them be a part of it. I think there might have been only one recording of “All I Left Behind”.

“I’m working on a memoir”

You say you won’t make another album. How come?
It’s because I have too many songs now, whenever I go out and perform. I don’t tour a lot. I usually go out with my band – the Red Dirt Boys – once a month. Then I do a lot of benefits, sometimes with them, and sometimes with my various wonderful friends who show up to play for nothing. And I draw on almost too much, all the songs I’ve been doing over the years. We’re talking about 50 years. I just feel like my time in the studio is done. I’ve had enough. And I’m working on a memoir.

How far along are you on the memoir?
Oh, not far enough! But I slog away every day. I already did my two or three hours this morning. So when it’s done, it’s done. I finally got with an editor who’s cracking whip, so hopefully I’ll get it finished within the next year.

Emmylou Harris will release Spyboy on November 7 via New West Records

The tracklisting for Spyboy is: 

My Songbird (Jesse Winchester) 
Where Will I Be
I Ain’t Living Long Like This (Rodney Crowell)
Love Hurts (Bouldleaux Bryant) 
Green Pastures
Deeper Well
Prayer In Open D
Calling My Children Home
Tulsa Queen
Wheels (Flying Burrito Brothers) 
Born To Run
Boulder To Birmingham
All My Tears (Julie Miller) 
The Maker
A Thing About You (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) * 
All I Left Behind (Emmylou Harris, Kate & Anna McGarrigle) * 
Every Grain Of Sand (Bob Dylan) * 
Get Up John (Bill Monroe) * 
Sweet Old World (Lucinda Williams) *

* Previously Unreleased Bonus Track 

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