Ed Masley Arizona Republic

From azcentral

Emmylou Harris sees her latest album as "one of those pleasant little surprises from the universe" — a live recording of her first performance on a Nashville stage with the acoustic bluegrass supergroup she'd just assembled, the Nash Ramblers. 

"We didn't know it existed," she says of the recording, captured at a 1990 concert at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and released three decades later as "Ramble in Music City: The Lost Concert."

Those tapes were initially shelved in favor of a subsequent performance at the Ryman Auditorium the following spring, which was released to great acclaim in 1992 as "At the Ryman" by Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers.

"At the Ryman" won a Grammy — Best Country Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocal — and played a key role in preserving the beloved music hall.

And the recording of that earlier performance?

"We'd all just forgotten," Harris says, speaking by phone from her home in Nashville in advance of her concert at Mesa Arts Center on Thursday, Oct. 7.

'Ramble in Music City' wasn't meant to be a live release

The recording presented on "Ramble in Music City" was intended to capture a moment in time as the Nash Ramblers took the stage in Nashville after several months of touring — purely for archival reasons.

"At the Ryman," on the other hand, was always meant to be a live release. 

"I worked up a bunch of songs and we recorded them for the first time live at the Ryman, which was getting ready to be torn down," Harris says. 

"It was a really good place to play songs for the first time and record them in front of a limited audience. I think we had 200 people. So that was our focus. And that went on to do very well."

It's the same approach the Americana icon had taken to an earlier live album, 1982's "Last Date."

"I have this theory that the first time you actually play a song in front of an audience live, there's something about the energy that you never get back," she says.

"It doesn't mean it's the best version. It might get more powerful later. But there's a very special quality to that first time you play a song, when it's still becoming part of you. And I wanted to capture that experience. So that was the whole point of 'At the Ryman.'"

Why Harris formed the Nash Ramblers

She'd formed the Nash Ramblers, in part, to give her voice a break after having to belt it out over the Hot Band in 15 years of heavy touring.

"This was before ear monitors," she says. "And I suppose I felt I was pushing my voice a little bit."

Beyond that, she's a firm believer in the theory that a slight change in approach can have a huge artistic impact.

Harris was sharing those thoughts with a friend, John Starling of the bluegrass group the Seldom Scene, when he suggested a way out.

"I had been whining and complaining to him about 'I don't know what to do next; I'm kind of tired,'" Harris says. 

"I had a great band then. But sometimes you need something to just kind of get your juices flowing. And he said, 'Listen, Sam Bush is leaving New Grass Revival. Hire Sam and put a bluegrass band together.' So that's what I did."

In addition to Bush (on fiddle, mandolin and vocals), the Nash Ramblers included Roy Huskey Jr. (bass), Larry Atamanuik (drums), Al Perkins (dobro, banjo, vocals), and Jon Randall Stewart (acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals).

Harris was comfortable performing bluegrass music

Bluegrass was a natural extension of what Harris had been doing all along. 

"Even in the Hot Band, I had Ricky Skaggs in the band for a while," she says, pointing out that she'd already done a bluegrass album, "Roses in the Snow," in 1980.

"That material had seeped into the Hot Band. We loved bluegrass. That's the stuff we'd sing when we were warming up before a show or on the bus. We'd find a Bill Monroe song, an old gospel song. And I had started as a folk singer, so it was kind of always there."

The 1990 concert was an undiscovered gem

Music archaeologist James Austin unearthed the 1990 Tennessee Performing Arts Center concert, which led to their release on Nonesuch Records.

"He found this amazing concert in its entirety," Harris says.

"And just listening to the recording, we didn't fix anything. We didn't fix a vocal. We didn't fix an instrumental. We had to take out some of the songs, but just for the length. Not because they weren't good enough to go on the record."

What remains is a stunning 23-song document of that historic night, including such obvious highlights as the country hit "If I Could Only Win Your Love," an aching performance of the country standard "Sweet Dreams" and the title track to "Roses in the Snow."

It's essentially the songs she had been doing up to that point with the more electric Hot Band. In bringing the volume down, the arrangements on "Ramble in Music City" are able to focus more on the close country harmonies.

"It's wonderful to just shine a light on these amazing musicians," Harris says. "I mean, all of my bands have been great. But this was my foray into basically a bluegrass band but with a drummer."

Hearing those recordings for the first time in three decades, Harris says, "I remembered that this was such a great band. And also, you think, boy, I don't know if I can hit those high notes anymore. But I'm glad we got 'em on tape when I had 'em."

It's been six years since her latest album of new music, an inspired collaboration with longtime musical partner Rodney Crowell, "The Traveling Kind." And she has no "particular plans" at the moment to get back in the studio and record new material. 

She's been working on a memoir while keeping busy with charity work. 

"I'm very involved in a working dog rescue in my backyard," Harris says. 

"I do a lot of fundraising for that and for this other enterprise called Crossroads Campus that works with disadvantaged youth and also homeless animals. I'm involved with a thing for the Women's Refugee Committee. We do benefits for that."

Writing a memoir has been a bittersweet experience

The memoir has been in the works for "way too long," she says. 

"I haven't gotten very far," she says. "I'm obsessive about rewriting every paragraph. But you know, it's a project. And right now, I've gotten very busy. But I'm hoping to get back to it in the late winter and next year."

It's been a bittersweet experience, this memoir. 

"I've reconnected with a lot of my friends from the past," she says. 

"Some of them were actually dealing with cancer and passed away. But I was able to reconnect and enjoy their company on the phone and talk about how important they were on my particular journey. So it's quite illuminating, but it isn't easy."

It has, however, caused her to reflect on all the good things that have happened in her life along the way. 

"I've been an extraordinarily lucky person in my life with all the people that have surrounded me and supported me," she says. "And I guess in a sense, I want this book to be just a big thank you note."

Getting back to the music, though, she isn't ruling out another album altogether. 

"Who knows, at some point, if I really feel like I've got some songs and I think, 'Man, I've just got to go in the studio and record them....," Harris says, trailing off. 

But she already has so much material she loves.

"For the most part, everything I've recorded over the years still resonates for me," she says. "And it's hard enough to fit as many songs as I would like into the sets. You get all that new stuff in there and you have to play it."

In the meantime, people itching for new music to explore can go listen to "Ramble in Music City," an album Harris says she's "just delighted" to release.

"I'm glad that people have a chance to revisit this fantastic band," she says. "It's a little gift from the universe."

Read more and photos at azcentral.