Emmylou Harris | Jim Lauderdale
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
11th May 2026
Delivering a mesmerising career spanning performance, Emmylou Harris begins her farewell UK and European tour at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. It’s a night of great music tinged with sadness as realisation dawns that this is her farewell.
In a lifetime of gigs, some remain vivid in the memory while others fade. On a dank February night in 1976, I witnessed something truly special: Emmylou Harris and The Hot Band playing Leicester De Montford Hall on their first UK tour. Her voice, on stage charisma, and the musical brilliance of The Hot Band were simply stunning. 50 years later, aged 79, she’s here to say goodbye, opening her farewell European tour at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. I wonder, will the passing decades be kind to her?
Support tonight comes from Jim Lauderdale. He opens with Wild Goose Chase, a dose of energetic bluegrass. The more stilted country of Artificial Intelligence follows before things improve with Headed For The Hills. It’s one of the fruits of long standing collaborations with The Grateful Dead’s Robert Hunter. Closing number, We Look At Things In Different Ways offers a gentle take on the USA’s far from gently divided society. It’s an enjoyable, accomplished set that draws a warm audience response in the sold out venue.
Emmylou Harris and her band walk on stage to loud applause, but it’s a stuttering start. Her duet with Lauderdale, interpreting The Everly Brothers, Love Hurts feels an underwhelming starting point. Fortunately, it’s the evenings only low point. We’re soon on much safer ground, as the self-penned Here I Am brings out the quality of her voice and a restrained subtlety in the band’s playing.
Renowned for her interpretations as much as her own writing (This evening she describes songwriting as a chore) tonight’s setlist’s songsmiths reads like a who’s who of alt country and Americana counter culture greats. Emmylou may have achieved great commercial success with mainstream country albums like the Trio collaborations, but as we’re to discover, her musical heart and tastes lie with country’s outliers and outlaws.
Reaching back into her Daniel Lanois produced Wrecking Ball album, Gillian Welch’s Orphan Girl is plaintive and powerful, and a long way from straight country. A little later, her delivery of Townes Van Zandt’s classic outlaw tale, Pancho & Lefty is as emotive as when I first heard it all those years ago. During the evening, she’ll find space too for a couple of her Mark Knopfler collaborations, with guitarist Kevin McKendrie taking on the maestro’s fretboard and vocal roles.
Emmylou’s not afraid to mix things up with some country heritage, and Bill Monroe’s Get Up John brings a slice of blistering bluegrass. The band are given licence to rip things up with some stunning interplay between guitar and mandolin. Among the pantheon of country greats, I guess you have to play some Johnny Cash. Help Him Jesus / Born To Run gives a shout out to Liverpool songwriter Paul Kennerly, too. Anyone looking for long lost Americana gems should check out his White Mansions and Jessie James concept albums. Tonight, the songs build from Cash’s country gospel beginnings into something far more rocky than Kennerly’s original.
As we’re in Liverpool, it’s suggested Emmylou play something by that other Liverpool act. Telling us she’ll only play something sad we get For No One from the Revolver album. Delivering a version probably more poignant than the original, and a show highlight, she closes by commenting, “I hope Paul approves.” I’m sure he would.
Mentor, musical soulmate, and more, the late Gram Parsons is mentioned only briefly, but Emmylou’s tribute is oh so powerful. “A chance meeting in Greenwich Village changed my life,” says everything about his importance to her. What’s more, for those who know, his spirit seems to hover throughout the latter part of the show. Emmylou may find songwriting “a chore,” but when putting pen to paper, her words and voice express so much. The Road may just be one of the most heart rendering homages to lost love ever written, and it’s made all the more sincere by her emotive delivery. “I guess I probably loved you when those words rolled off your tongue. I know I couldn’t save you, and no one was to blame. But the road we shared together once will never be the same.”
A little later, the similarly self penned Boulder To Birmingham, delivered with such emotion in that crystalline voice, clearly emphasises the loss she so clearly feels. And as the unspoken homage continues, she revisits two of Parson’s compositions that featured in her early albums. Wheels harks back to the sounds of classic country with Emmylou’s voice to the fore. Following it, The International Submarine Band’s Luxury Liner sees her band at their shit kicking best with stunning fretwork from Kevin McKendree.
If you’re steeped in the world of alt country/country rock, Steve Earle’s an essential go to. She praises his ongoing stance in challenging the ills in American society. Tonight though, she chooses to play Goodbye, another track so emotionally charged that the spectre of Gram Parsons looms large.
When they close with Chuck Berry’s, rollicking (You Never Can Tell) C’est La Vie, the first of tonight’s standing ovations is the least they deserve. Inevitably, they’re back for more. Emmylou made Buck Owens, Together Again her own fifty years ago, and tonight her delivery is dripping with so much emotional depth. No surprise then, that it yields another standing ovation.
Tonight, Emmylou has stood and performed for almost two hours. Her voice is still as pure and evocative as ever, although perhaps a little sharper at the top as age takes its toll. The band, superb throughout, compliment her perfectly. But it’s not just her singing that impresses, it’s her humility too. Remarking that she’s tried to choose songs that we’d want to hear and hopes we enjoyed her performance. Some might quibble, but for your reviewer, it’s close to perfect.
The performers take one final bow and take their leave. The ensuing rapturous applause is fully deserved, but the moment proves bittersweet, and we leave with mixed emotions. Tonight, we’ve witnessed a wonderful performance from a true original and a musical icon. Yet as we drift into the Liverpool night, there’s sadness too, and a few tears that come with the realisation that this is the last we’ll see of her.
~
Emmylou Harris can be followed on Facebook|Instagram|and her website
Jim Lauderdale can be followed on Facebook|Instagram|and hiswebsite
Words and photos by Trev Eales. More work by Trev can be found on Louder Than War at his author’sprofile.
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