www.roanoke.com

Emmylou Harris backstage at MerleFest

It was such a relief to hear Emmylou Harris hit those golden high notes last night.

I have only a few minutes for now, so Let me make an important point. This is the first time I've seen Harris since January 2008 at the Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. She was there with Three Girls and Their Buddy. Her voice broke a couple of times at the top of her range that night -- but that was just an off night.

She was amazing last night, nailing her high notes at full throat and falsetto.

I'm going to attempt to write a short review of this show, although I'm completely dazed right now -- I just got to interview Harris, along with a couple of other print reporters. You'll hear me have my version of a Chris Farley "you remember when you did that? ... That was cool" moment when I post the podcast tomorrow. She was absolutely cool and classy, so my objectivity feels shot.

Fortunately, her show last night did *not* suck. The tone was set from the opening number, Jesse Winchester's "My Songbird," with Harris' steely, sad voice so clear and under control. Behind her, multi-instrumentalists Rickie  Simpkins and Phil Madeira played sparse but musical arrangements, with bassist Chris Donahue providing a very breathable pulse.

Both Simpkins and Madeira sang fine, sympathetic harmonies with her, but the harmony highlight came in the form of Sam Bush. The onetime New Grass Revival guy, who played a hot set later that night, was a member of Harris' Nash Ramblers, and the pair sound amazing together.

Side notes: Bush had performed with just about everyone yesterday, it seemed, including the Waybacks' "Sticky Fingers" set. He and fellow NGR vet John Cowan reminded those who heard them back then of how great they sang together. And of course, Harris had stolen that set with "Wild Horses" -- she had sung it with the late Gram Parsons, but told reporters this afternoon that she had never sung the lead in front of an audience before yesterday afternoon.

Bush started up sawing fiddle on Bill Monroe's "Get Up John," featuring the lyrics Marty Stuart and Jerry Sullivan wrote, then dug into her album catalog for "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight." Again, Bush's harmonies were seamless, and their voices are so well-suited.

Harris returned the favor during Bush's set, joining him for more killer harmonies on Julie Miller's "The River's Gonna Run."

Speaking of Julie Miller, her husband, Buddy Miller, is doing very well two months after having triple-bypass surgery while on tour with Three Girls and Their Buddy, Harris said in the interview.

Look for more from Harris, including discussion about the dog rescue program she has at her home and about some of the songs from her commercial apex in the mid-1970s. She did several of those songs last night, including "One of These Days," a song that was one of my favorite childhood earworms (and which brought on my semi-Chris Farley moment). That song is personally timeless for her, she said.

It showed.