Emmylou Harris says she’s slowing down, but if “slowing down” includes Christmas specials, memoirs, reissues, and running a dog shelter from her backyard, then most of us are moving backwards.
“I’m working on a memoir,” she says with a laugh that suggests it’s a miracle she’s found time to write at all. “And I find it really hard to do more than one thing at once.”
Still, she’s carved out space for The Nashville Christmas, part of a long tradition of holiday shows she’s participated in over the years. But it’s the McGarrigle Christmas shows—with Kate and Anna, Rufus Wainwright’s mom and aunt—that remain closest to her heart. “They really went all out,” she says. “It was always an interesting musical experience as well as being around your friends.”
One such moment included singing “Coat of Many Colors,” a song originally by Dolly Parton but one that Rufus declared a Christmas song for its message of love and humility. “He said, ‘That’s what Christmas is about,’” Emmylou recalls. “And I thought, well, that’s different. But he’s right.”
Speaking of Dolly, she also showed up—along with Linda Ronstadt and Neil Young—on Harris’s own 1979 holiday record, Light of the Stable. “Didn’t exactly top the charts,” she deadpans. “We used to joke it was one of the best-kept secrets in the music business.” But like most Emmylou records, time did its thing. “It’s been discovered by people,” she says, matter-of-factly. “A good record’s a good record.”
She hasn’t made another Christmas album since—no surprise considering her calendar is already packed with, well, saving lives. Harris runs Bonaparte’s Retreat, a dog rescue operation literally in her backyard, where she partners with Nashville’s Metro Animal Control to pull animals out of high-risk shelters. “When we started in 2004, the euthanasia rate was in the high 80s,” she says. “Now we’re working toward becoming a no-kill city. And I believe we can achieve that.”
Her message is simple: adopt, don’t shop. “There are millions of healthy animals put down every year for no reason other than there’s nowhere for them to go,” she says. “That’s unacceptable.”
In between holiday songs and dog rescue, there’s also The Ballad of Sally Rose getting a fresh release from Rhino Records this February. Originally out in 1985, the reissue will include stripped-down demos recorded with just her guitar and a choir of her own harmonies.
It’s a fitting return for one of Harris’s most personal records—and one that was almost lost to time. “I think it’ll be interesting for people who are fans of mine,” she says with gentle understatement, the way only someone with a staggering discography can.
So yes, Emmylou Harris is “slowing down.” Which apparently still involves releasing archival albums, writing a memoir, singing on national TV, and singlehandedly reducing the number of unwanted dogs in Nashville.
Honestly, if that’s retirement, the rest of us should be ashamed.
Listen to the interview above and then check out a clip of Emmylou singing "Coat of Many Colors" below!
