Emmylou Harris at the Wilbur Theater

      For me, there's always been a deep affinity for acoustic guitar playing.  Likely stemming from an early appreciation for James Taylor and Jackson Browne, I independently started learning about styles such as slack-key and classical.  Every strum and pick.  Fingers moving along the frets.  That distinct sound of when the resulting vibrations just swim around in the body of the guitar.  When listening to guitarists play, I like to just close my eyes and visualize the finger work.  It's careful, instinctive, and can demonstrate a musician's intimate knowledge of the instrument.  In college, some of my favorite sources of acoustic guitar music were Jewel's "Pieces of You" album, Jack Johnson's "In Between Dreams" album, Eva Cassidy CD's, and a collection of Cat Stevens' greatest hits, and when the Chicks would appear on CMT or VH1.  At this time, YouTube was in its infancy.  With the exception of the NHL's website providing local radio broadcasts for games, streamed radio was for the few who subscribed to services like Sirius and XFM.

      It was June 2007 when I first saw Alison Krauss perform on television.  She was helping to celebrate Paul Simon receiving the Gershwin award.  That led to my purchasing a copy of "Raising Sands" where Krauss found compatibility with Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant.  Learning more about Allison Krauss, I realized that she had recorded "Go to Sleep Little Babe" with Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch for the George Clooney movie "O Brother Where Art Thou?".  It wasn't long afterward that I created a Pandora account, and explored similar musicians.  Eva Cassidy's cover of "Songbird" was my first hub on that site.  Eva passed away in 1996, but left the world a beloved correction of grainy little live performances.  I felt similar emotions when discovering music by the late Kate Wolf.  I felt like some teenager first learning about Nirvana's demise  Emmylou and Allison's music daisy-chained to pandora stations focusing on Patty Griffin, the Bankester family, Bearfoot, the Wailin' Jennys, the Waifs, Po' Girl, and a (then) rising star named Brandi Carlile.  

      As my musical tastes broaden, I still enjoy finding time to return to those acoustic music states of mind.  It's a practice of spiritual connection for me.  In 2018, I got to see the Wailin' Jennys perform at Harvard's Sanders Theater, and wrote about the communal experience in that space & time.  The next summer I got to see the Waifs (a folk band from Western Australia) perform the Natick Center for the Arts, meeting Donna and Joshua after the show.  That year, I also got to see world renowned acoustic pickers Jesse Cooke and Tommy Emmanuel.  In 2022, I was among the TD Garden audience when Brandi Carlile, the Hanseroth twins, Sister Strings, Brittany Howard, and Alison Russell (formerly of Po' Girl)  performed in what is still one of my favorite concerts.

      Imagine my enthusiasm when I saw that Emmylou Harris was scheduled to perform at the Wilbur Theater in Boston.  Missing my opportunities attend the Kate Wolf Festival in Mendocino County, CA.  Other than Nina Gerber, this was going to be one of the closest opportunities to see one of Wolf's contemporaries.  Not only that, but Emmylou Harris is bluegrass royalty, and another performer from the 90's Lilith Fair tours which I gushed about in my Joan Osborne post.  With the concert occurring two nights after the Frankie Valli show, I had to recalibrate my personal music vibe like an internal disk changer.  All of those figurative CD's are in the collection, but I have to acclimate my spiritual vibrations from one genre to another.  Like that, I shifted from early 60's doo wop and "Grease" to a wondrous rabbit hole of bluegrass.

      In some ways, seeing Emmylou Harris performing was like seeing Denny Laine in person.  We as an audience were told stories not only of Emmylou's upbringing but from 55 years in the music industry.  While Denny put just as much focus on 60's and 70's rock & roll experiences, Emmylou's storytelling was more more an introductory device for different songs.  Nonetheless, both gave a personal view into the community of artists.  The sense of community among artists may have been a big reason for why Harris first moved to Greenwich Village, Career-wise, artists need to go where the industry is in order to get noticed.  Innovations such as the internet and social media platforms made exposure and connection more universal, but as Becca Mancari explained at the Wilbur a month earlier, living in community with other artists is very beneficial.  While some of Emmylou's setlist was selected from her prolific songwriting career, the night included many covers of people who she's come to know as friends.  Bill Monroe to Simon & Garfunkel.  Artists who Emmylou has collaborated with such as Linda Ronstadt and Mark Knopfler.  Through all of these songs that have remained relevant to Emmylou Harris's life and career, hearing them be performed live (by a six piece band) is to hear their living testament applied to the context of today.

      Something else that stood out was Emmylou's singing ability.  The vibrato and control that she exercises in her vocals is mesmerizing.  In the middle of the show, she brought together members of her band for an an a cappella  performance of the Country Gentlemen's "Calling My Children Home".  In a strategically arranged arc of people, Harris coached her band through the harmonies and pacing.  Seeing Emmylou Harris teaching and guiding performers there in the moment was a touching example of the musician "paying forward" what she's picked up.  Not just through her musical gift that she's providing the audience but the support and guidance that she gives her band.

      For my illustration of the show, I was trying to capture each bandmates craft and playing style.  One thing that I noticed (just since it's one of my first focal points when drawing a guitarist) is the almost even angle at which Emmylou Harris holds her guitar.  Watching older videos, I'm seeing that it's she's been holding her guitar like this for many years.  She may not get this question often, but I would be curious to hear the reasoning of that playing technique.  It was also exciting to draw a fiddler and and a stand-up bassist during a live show.  I was fascinated by the fiddler's spine bending a little back at points of the music.  The bassist also conveyed such a look of focus that I was trying hard to translate to paper.

  Unless Norah Jones plays some songs from Puss 'n Boots next week, my next visit into the orbit of country and folk will be at Boston Calling.  I'll bring my sketchbook, and see what new subtitles I can pick up.  Til next time.