Emmylou speaks to Fader about new box set

"I've always thought of myself first and foremost as an interpreter," Emmylou Harris recently told Fader, regarding her upcoming box set of rare and unreleased tracks, Songbird, out Sept 18 on Rhino Records. She continued:

"[Cover songs have] been the lion's share of what I've done over the years. I don't want to say it's easier than writing, although the hard work is done in writing the song - that's where you really seat. But hen you've got a song that's pre-existing, like [Buck Owens's] "Together Again," it's almost like it's the jewel in the crown, and you're coming up with another setting for it. It's the people you gather around you, the musicians and what they're going to come up with - how they're going to polish that stone, so to speak. And I've always had incredible polishers around me. So I'm fascinated with the myriad ways in which a song can be done - and the message will be there in the interpretation.

Harris said that, unlike her previously released Best of from 2008, this project gave her a chance to gather "tracks that maybe didn't lend themselves to live performance, but were special moments in the studio." With help from co-producer James Austin, she assembled a collection of collaborations with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt (who called themselves the Queenston trio), as well as Patty Griffin, George Jones, Willie Nelson and Beck. Also included are covers of Lucindia Williams and Anna McGarrigle, as well as performances from her days with mentor and singing partner Gram Parsons.

"[Parsons] set me on that path, of finding my voice, and giving me a sense of structure," said Harris. "And that was the path that I followed - we could zig and zag, but we always had a center, and that center was coming from country."

Related links:
Emmylou.net
Emmylou Harris on MySpace
TheFader.com

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