The Neil Young Song Emmylou Harris Adored Above All

Emmylou Harris is a songwriters songwriter, thus, she is a student of poetry, prose, and music. Not one of the mediums resides in isolation. Rather, they all coexist in the melting pot of Emmylou Harris’ brain. Given this nearly literary approach to music, Harris is of course a fan of all the greats, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Joni Mitchell. However, there is one folk musician who musically stole her heart, and that is Neil “Don Grungio” Young.

In the ’60s and ’70s, Young and Harris lived in the same genres and shared the same fans. Hence, it is no surprise that Harris was such a fan of Neil Young. However, when talking about her admiration for Young, “fan” might do her a disservice, as she seemingly praises the man’s generational songwriting ability.

Out of Many, Emmylou Harris Places One Song Above All

Emmylou Harris’ praise of Neil Young came during her interview with the BBC’s Desert Island Discs series. Given the name of the interview, you can surmise just how hypothetically important these selections are to the artist choosing them. Nevertheless, Harris was fairly quick to name Neil Young’s “Emperor of Wyoming” as a song she’d bring along with her.

Regarding Young, Harris stated, “Here’s an artist that is one of the great voices, both literally and figuratively, of rock and roll, of American music, of world music, who has never stopped, as he says, following the muse. Everything goes into the music.” “Neil Young has always inspired me,” Emmylou Harris added.

Thanks to their lyrical and musical similarities, it makes total sense that Harris finds Young so inspiring. After all, they toil with the same subject matter that depicts the social and naturalistic imagery of the more rural parts of the world. In the interview, Harris also said, “Neil Young has always been an artist that I can just close my eyes and pick any of his records when I want to listen to something.”

It is unclear what other Neil Young songs Emmylou Harris adores. However, given her incredibly generous comments, it seems she might have quite a long list of them. Young and Harris have shared the stage on several occasions, but have never written a song together. Though and despite their older age, it’s never too late. So, let’s keep our fingers crossed, as a lyrical collaboration between the two of them would be an intellectual meeting of some of the greatest musical minds.

Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum