"Mainly I listened to folk music. I listened to Bob Dylan to Joan Baez to Judy Collins to Ian and Sylvia. I was really into the singer/songwriters of that era. I listened to folk/blues; I loved Mance Lipscomb and Son House, Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Lightnin' Hopkins, a lot of that. That was my main influence when Gram (Parsons) happened upon me." - Emmylou Harris
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(Columbia Records)
Emmylou Harris was born on April 2, 1947, in Birmingham, Alabama. The legendary country singer, songwriter, and guitarist is most closely associated with Gram Parsons. However, Bob Dylan played an important role early in her solo career.
Harris started her singing career in 1968, in Greenwich Village, and recorded an album, Gliding Bird, soon after, which featured a cover of Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight". A few years later, she hooked up with Gram Parsons' band. By this time, Parson's had already been in The Byrds, and spent time with The Rolling Stones. She sang with Parsons for the last two years of his life. He died in 1973. Harris became a Reprise recording artist the following year.
Unused version of "Hurricane", Dylan with Emmylou Harris. (WARNING: Strong Language)
In 1975, Emmylou sang back-up vocals on Bob Dylan's number one album, Desire. Harris participated in three sessions, from July 28 to 30. By the time Dylan re-recorded "Hurricane" on October 24, for legal reasons, Harris had been replaced by actress Ronee Blakley. Blakely went on to join Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. You can hear the unreleased version above.
Dylan and Harris worked again , although the collaboration was never officially released. The duo reunited on May, 1994, to sing "My Blue-Eyed Jane" for Dylan's project, The Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers - A Tribute. This version was included on a pre-release cassette in 1996, which can be heard above. However, when the album was released in 1997, the released version featured a new, solo, Dylan vocal.
When producer Daniel Lanois, who had previously worked with Dylan on his 1989 album Oh Mercy, took over the helm of Harris' adventurous 1995 album Wrecking Ball, she covered "Every Grain Of Sand".
Harris was one of the background vocalists when Dylan appeared on David Letterman's 10th anniversary special in 1992. She has also covered other Dylan songs throughout her career, including "Shelter From The Storm" and "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere".
On a side note, today is also Leon Russell's birthday. Russell worked with Dylan in the early 1970s, on stage and in the studio.
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Comments
This is the best of the many versions of this song I've heard, including live back then.
And Bob played Emmylou's "If This is Goodbye" duet with Mark Knopfler on the final episode of Theme Time Radio Hour
To my shock and delight, I saw Emmylou sitting 2 rows over from me at a Dylan show in Nashville in '05. I think I watched her more that night than Bob. She was really into it. She clearly has a love for Dylan and his music.
Man, Bob sounds good on this version. What an amazing voice.
I prefer this version of "Hurricane" also. Harold touches on the rerecording of the song for legal reasons. Dylan had some of the details of the case mixed up, which posed a potential libelous case against Bob. Although Hurricane Carter was eventually released, I spoke to someone from Patterson, NJ once. It seems the general consensus of the locals is that Carter was in fact guilty of the murder. At the very least, Rubin Carter was a thug with a criminal history.
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