Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is a country music singer-songwriter and musician from Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Harris graduated from high school as class valedictorian and won a drama scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It was around that time that Harris began to study music seriously, heavily influenced by artists such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.
Harris married fellow songwriter Tom Slocum in 1969, and recorded her first album the following year, Gliding Bird. After the album's release, Harris' record label declared bankruptcy. Around that same time, Harris' marriage to Slocum began to fall apart and the couple were soon divorced. Harris, who lived for a brief time on her own with her newborn daughter Hallie in Nashville, Tennessee, was forced, after struggling financially, to move back in with her parents, who were now living in Washington, D.C..
Harris soon returned to performing, as part of a trio with local musicians Gerry Mule and Tom Guidera. One night, in 1971, members of the country group The Flying Burrito Brothers happened to be in the audience, including former Byrds member Chris Hillman, who took over the band after the departure of its founder Gram Parsons. Hillman was so impressed by Harris that he briefly considered asking her to join the band. Instead, in 1972, Hillman ended up recommending her to Parsons, who was looking for a female vocalist to work with on his first solo album. Harris toured as a member of Parsons' "Fallen Angels" band, and in 1973, Harris returned to the studio with Parsons to record Grievous Angel. Parsons was found dead in his hotel room on September 19, 1973, from an overdose of drugs including alcohol. (Harris would reflect on Parsons' death in her 1975 composition "Boulder to Birmingham".)
