Emmylou Harris last played Glasgow at Country to Country festival in 2018, and since she’s turning 79 in April some thought that was the last time she would play this side of the Atlantic.
Luckily for us she decided to grace us with her divine presence one more time, beginning her European farewell tour with this career- spanning celebratory evening at Celtic Connections festival.
As many fans have pointed out, this isn’t the end. She still intends to tour America and play dates near her home in Nashville. When she stepped on the stage last night she looked sprightly on her feet and her voice sounded great, suggesting she can run for a long time yet.
Unfortunately the venue choice for the evening was a little odd, being a sports arena, chosen for the size rather than suitability for the music. For myself, and others on the floor, the view was great but the seats were small and uncomfortable, some in the tiered seating may have had more space but will have struggled to see well, as there were no big screens.
Unlike the Concert Hall or the legendary Apollo that Emmylou mentioned in her set, it’s hard to create an intimate atmosphere in a space like this. Yet both Emmylou and the support Jim Lauderdale managed to elevate us beyond the room and make it seem like the only place they wanted to be.
Jim’s support set was fantastic, wearing his trademark sparkly suit, he played solo but apologised to the crowd for not having his band (one point he even hilariously attempted to sing the pedal steel parts). Highlights included the gorgeous Hummingbird and a new song about AI which was both highly amusing and a chilling reminder to appreciate the humanity in our songwriters (and world). There was some lovely crowd singing too for his final song Headed to the Hills.
Emmylou took the stage at 8:30pm and played for an hour and forty five minutes – an impressive effort for anyone half her age. Her excellent band, the Red Dirt Boys, included Phil Madeira, Bryan Ownings on drums, Chris Donoghue on bass, mandolin & violinist Eamon McCloughlin and joining the band on electric guitar was Kevin Key.
The early set highlights included a solo opening with My Songbird and a crystal clear version of Gillian Welch’s Orphan Girl. Emmylou shared tales of her happy childhood as she introduced her classic Red Dirt Girl, a song which might be fiction but was sung with a powerful emotional weight.
As a self-confessed ‘interpreter’ of the songs of others, this allowed her to pay tribute to these songwriters over the course of the evening, many of whom became friends including her old neighbour Nanci Griffith whose song Gulf Coast Highway was a beautiful highlight of the night. Emmylou also spoke of George Jones, Marty Stuart, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Steve Earle, before singing a fitting version of the latter’s song Goodbye.
Another standout of the set was a new song she’s prepared for the tour called Help Him, Jesus, originally sung by Johnny Cash. I also loved when her band formed a trio to sing stunning harmony on Prayer in Open D and Bright Morning Stars.
The final third of the set included most of her best known songs like One of these Days, Pancho & Lefty, Wheels, and Luxury Liner. Compared to earlier in the set the tempo of some of these songs stretched her a little but you felt she wanted to give the crowd their favourites. The best of these classics was a lovely version of Together Again which felt like a timely reminder to appreciate each other.
After the gorgeous Rose of Cimarron she took the applause for the end of the set but never left the stage and went straight into Boulder to Birmingham. The sorrow of that song doesn’t lessen with time, bringing tears to the eyes of many in the audience around me.
Emmylou told us she’d had a ‘wonderful life playing music with her friends’ and reminded us to ‘be kind to one another’. She truly seemed so happy on stage that you wondered if she would just play on all night.
When she did reluctantly retire, to the sound of another standing ovation, you knew that while she may not be together with a Glasgow crowd again, the music, and her legacy, will live on with her Scottish fans for a long time to come.
Setlist
My Songbird
Here I Am
Orphan Girl
Love and Happiness
Two More Bottles of Wine
Red Dirt Girl
Gulf Coast Highway
Green Pastures
Get Up John
Help Him, Jesus
Born to Run
Prayer in Open D
Bright Morning Stars
Goodbye
One of these Days
Pancho & Lefty
All the Roadrunning
Michelangelo
Wheels
Luxury Liner
Together Again
Rose of Cimmarron
—
Boulder to Birmingham
You Never Can Tell (C’est La Vie)
Upcoming Tour Dates: https://www.emmylouharris.com/tour
Photos by Kris Kesiak with permission from Celtic Connections.
Highway Queens 
Leave a comment