University of Virginia Library

Harris: Touching People

The Prism coffeehouse hosts an especially appealing
artist this weekend in the appearance of Emmy Lou
Harris, who has spent the last two years singing her own
style of country, folk and rock music in various bars in
the Washington D.C. area.

In an interview with The Washington Post last July, it
was noted that she draws a "special kind of visitor to her
performances. The Beach Boys have dropped by. The
Flying Burrito Brothers invited her up to sing with them
one night at The Cellar Door. Stephen Stills drove down
from Baltimore after a concert, listened to her, and
made an offer to record what he'd heard." Merle
Haggard asked her to work on one of his recording
sessions last summer, after he'd heard a tape of her songs
given him by Graham Parsons, formerly of the Byrds.

Her voice was described as bringing together "most
of the pleasing, emotional qualities of country music,
the guts of urban blues and the delicate delineation of a
classical balladeer."

Why, then, with such an audience, and such a unique
talent, isn't the 25-year old singer releasing albums and
making yearly concert tours of the country?

"This is the music business," she answered in the
interview. "I've already been through one record
contract and it was a disaster didn't even get to choose
the things I wanted to sing or the kind of music that
would back me up. So now all these people keep
offering me contracts, and you just have to take it with a
bit of skepticism."

Miss Harris has been working on the Washington bar
circuit–an unpleasant experience for most performers,
but an economic necessity nevertheless. She described
the night-to-night basis as "really vicious" and a
depressing experience.

"I remember writing a 10-page handwritten letter to
Pete Seeger when I was 16," she confessed. "I told him
I'd never lived; I didn't have it. How could I ever be a
great singer like he was? I think I have a tendency to be
that way still a little bit of a defeatist. I'll put a song
down before I've tried it and be sarcastic. I guess it's
because I'm emotional about songs. But when you think
about it, that's what singing is all about. You try to
touch people. You want to keep them and yourself from
being a blob."

The Prism welcomes Miss Harris to the University
tonight and tomorrow night; doors open at 8:15 p.m.
with the performance beginning at 9:00. Admission is 75
cents.