Emmylou Harris and Joan Baez are similar in the sense that most of their musical reputation lies in their ability to interpret other people’s songs, not necessarily write their own—but in each woman’s case, when a personal loss is great enough, songwriting inspiration can strike suddenly and forcefully. For Baez, “Diamonds and Rust”, the song she wrote after receiving an unexpected phone call from Bob Dylan, is a perfect example. For Harris, her most personal, deeply felt song—and the only one from her second studio album, Pieces of the Sky, that she wrote—is “Boulder to Birmingham”.
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Unlike Baez’s circumstances, which would see her reconcile her complicated relationship with Dylan, Harris’ loss was far more permanent. The country singer wrote “Boulder to Birmingham” in response to the death of Gram Parsons, a musician with whom Harris frequently worked in the early days of her career. Harris has gone so far as to say Parsons was the sole reason she was a musician at all. “Meeting Gram was a huge moment for me,” she said in a 2006 interview with Harp. “A determining, defining moment. There was something so meant-to-be about the way our paths intersected.”
“I was on a downward spiral,” Harris continued. “I doubt very much if I hadn’t met Gram that I would have a career in music. It was Gram who really taught me that there was this incredible treasure out there. With the joy of singing with him came that exhilaration of when you hit that note just right. And there’s that buzz. That’s why I love harmony.”
Emmylou Harris Wrote “Boulder to Birmingham” to Process Her Grief
When Gram Parsons died of a drug overdose in the Joshua Tree Inn in southern California, his death shook his colleague and friend Emmylou Harris. In a beautiful testament to the foundation on which she built her relationship with Parsons in the first place, Harris used music to process the grief of losing such a prominent figure in her life.
Speaking of “Boulder to Birmingham” with The Guardian in November 2018, Harris said, “That song was very important. Words can be so powerful to help you express something you otherwise can’t. And everyone has experienced loss. So, even though the song is deeply personal, I can understand how people can relate to it, having lost someone who is very close to them.”
Harris wrote another song in honor of Parsons, which she released on Hard Bargain in 2011. “Boulder to Birmingham” described someone pining to see their dead loved one again. But “The Road” describes the acceptance of knowing they never will.
“That song just sort of fell out,” Harris told Noise11.com in 2012. “It was almost a stream of consciousness looking back over the years. I had got so inoculated and impassioned with country music through Gram. And I really thought that we were just going to continue to write music together. He was my teacher. I thought we were going to be literally on that road for a while. I really did have to take what I knew at that point and carry on by myself and just learn what I could.”
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