Emmylou Harris Teases Farwell Euro Tour

Emmylou Harris has received rave reviews for final shows in Glasgow and Dublin

Emmylou Harris has dipped the proverbial toe in Europe’s musical waters with lauded concerts in Glasgow and Dublin which provide a preview to her much-published last “European Farwell Tour” in mid-year. The two shows saw Harris further enhance her long-held status as the Queen of Americana Music.

“Spine-tingling goodbye from 78-year-old country legend,” headlined The Guardian after her January 16 concert in Glasgow. The subhead read: “The lived-in dustiness of her voice only enriches her storytelling, with her greatest songs now more devastating than ever.”

“Spellbounding Irish sign off from one of the greats,” proclaimed The Irish Times after her Dublin gig, two nights later. The review opened with a fitting reflection on her impending European departure: “Emmylou Harris’s music is full of sunsets and bittersweet goodbyes, but now she is saying au revoir for good with a run of dates that mark the end of the country star’s travels across the Atlantic.”

Those travel dates recommence when the bulk of the European tour actually begins at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall on May 11. And there are there are 14 more shows – punctuated by a June/July hiatus – across Europe before the journey ends in Antwerp, Belgium on September 4. Perhaps her most anticipated gig will be at London’s Royal Albert Hall on May 17, as part of the Highways Festival. Harris made her first appearance at the hallowed hall in February 1978.

And, if her 2026 setlist is any indication, little has changed in her remarkable ability to not only traverse all shades of country - blues, gospel, rockabilly or traditional - but at the same time be one of the greatest interpreters in modern music. Whether it be songs by Gram Parsons, Nanci Griffith, Chuck Berry or Bill Monroe, Harris continues to assume distinctive ownership with her covers.

This from reviewer Katie Hawthorne in The Guardian on Harris’s Glasgow set: “She plays for almost two hours, pausing only to take a sip of tea, and a roaring performance of  Parson’s “Luxury Liner” ends with both her fists in the air: ‘What fun!’ After an emotional standing ovation, she can barely rip herself away, and instead offers up “Boulder to Birmingham,” her music ballad about reckoning with Parsons’s death. And just as there’s scarcely a dry eye in the house, she chases it with Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell” – ‘just for fun’ she winks.”

As expected, there was some variation – quite minor - between the Scottish and Irish setlists, but the reviewers were happy with whatever Harris delivered.

Pat Carty, in the Irish Examiner, noted: “The song selection was also faultless – Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl,” “All The Roadrunning” from her collaboration with Mark Knopfler, a heart-breaking cover of Steve Earle’s “Goodbye” which made this reviewer want to run off to Mexico, and her own gorgeous “Michelangelo.”

Harris was always lauded for her between-songs adornment. This from Broadway World on her Glasgow gig: “Despite the packed setlist, Emmylou Harris still managed to cram in a good bit of storytelling between songs. It feels like she’s worked with almost everyone in the music industry, and this gives a great insight to her career. She’s naturally at ease on stage and commands the room well, as you never hear anyone’s voice but her through the set.”

The vocals may be all Emmylou, but she had much-praised backing from her long-established band, The Red Dirt Boys – Phil Madeira (keyboards/accordion), Bryan Owings (drums), Chris Donohue (bass), Eamon McLoughlin (mandolin/violin) and Kevin Key (lead guitar). Most have been Harris’s rhythm section since 2007 and are known for their trade-mark rootsy-southern sound.

Again, the critics were impressed. This from the Irish Examiner: “Her band were jaw-droppingly good, especially Eamon McLoughlin’s virtuosic mandolin-playing and the sensitive drumming of Bryan Owings. He managed to recreate the sound of her two classic Americana albums, Wrecking Ball and Red Dirt Girl, with bass drum, cymbal and shaker alone.”

Popular singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale was the big-name opener for Harris in both Glasgow and Dublin and he will return for the principal tour in May. The Carolinian troubadour, with his blend of country, bluegrass and gospel, is the ideal support act for Harris’s audience.

“Jim’s support was fantastic, wearing his trademark sparkly suit, he played solo but apologised to the crowd for not having his band (one point he even hilariously attempted to sing the pedal steel parts). Highlights included the gorgeous “Hummingbird” and a new song about AI which was both highly amusing and a chilling reminder to appreciate the humanity in our songwriters (and world). There was some lovely crowd singing too for his final song ‘Headed to the Hills’,” read the Glasgow review in Highway Queens.

Harris used her brief excursion to publicise in the British media her big Euro event in May. She told Fiona Sturges in The Guardian: “I really don’t know what winding down is. I think when you’re an artist, you don’t ever really retire. As I tell my friends, I don’t know what I’m doing. But I sure am doing a lot of it.”

Her European fans sure know what she’s doing and cannot wait for more!

Paul Cutler

Editor  Crossroads - Americana Music Appreciation