Emmylou Harris’ ‘Lost’ Concert LP With the Nash Ramblers
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Emmylou Harris performing some years later (Photo: Paul Natkin/Getty Images; used with permission)
After fifteen years of touring with the Hot Band, Emmylou Harris formed the Nash Ramblers, a new acoustic all-star group, in 1990, featuring Sam Bush (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), Roy Huskey Jr. (bass), Larry Atamanuik (drums), Al Perkins (dobro, banjo, vocals), and Jon Randall Stewart (acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals). The band played on the road for several months before making their Nashville debut at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) on Sept. 28, 1990. That concert was recorded and shelved, while another live run at the Ryman Auditorium the following spring was released as Emmylou Harris and the Nash Ramblers at the Ryman to great acclaim, winning a Grammy and spurring public interest in saving the beloved music hall. Now, more than thirty years later, the 1990 TPAC recording has been unearthed. Ramble in Music City: The Lost Concert has been released for the first time on September 3, 2021, via Nonesuch.
The TPAC set features entirely different songs from the Ryman album and includes music by such renowned songwriters as Rodney Crowell, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, Paul Simon, and Townes Van Zandt, among many others, as well as Harris’ own compositions. (See the complete track list below).
Listen to their performance of Simon’s “The Boxer”
Harris says of the album, “When James Austin, in my humble opinion, the world’s best and certainly most devoted music archeologist, unearthed the tapes of this ‘lost’ concert, I was taken aback by their very existence, like finding some cherished photograph misplaced so long ago the captured moment had been forgotten. Then the memories came flooding in, of the Nash Ramblers, hot off the road from our first tour, ready to rock and bringing their usual A-game to the hometown turf.”
Listen to Johnny Mullins’ “Blue Kentucky Girl”
She adds, “It only took one listen to realize not a single note was out of place or in need of repair, a truly extraordinary performance by these gifted musicians. What a joy it was to share the stage with them.”
Listen to the recording’s lead track, “Roses in the Snow”
A 13x Grammy Award winner and Billboard Century Award recipient, Harris’ contribution as a singer and songwriter spans six decades. She has recorded more than thirty albums and has also contributed to countless fellow artists’ recordings. In recognition of her remarkable career, Harris was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Her most recent new release, a collaboration with Rodney Crowell, The Traveling Kind, followed the longtime friends’ first duet album, Old Yellow Moon, which won a Best Americana Album Grammy as well as two Americana Music Association Awards, for Album of the Year and Duo/Group of the Year.
Listen to Crowell’s “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues”
Ramble in Music City: The Lost Concert Track Listing
1. Roses in the Snow (Ruth Franks)
2. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (Rodney Crowell)
3. Beneath Still Waters (Dallas Frazier)
4. If I Could Only Win Your Love (Charlie & Ira Louvin)
5. Amarillo (Emmylou Harris/Rodney Crowell)
6. The Other Side of Life (Alan O’Bryant)
7. If I Needed You (Townes Van Zandt)
8. Two More Bottles of Wine (Delbert McClinton)
9. Mystery Train (Herman Parker)
10. My Songbird (Jesse Winchester)
11. Wayfaring Stranger (John Wyeth)
12. Green Pastures (Traditional)
13. Blue Kentucky Girl (Johnny Mullins)
14. Hello Stranger (A.P. Carter)
15. Remington Ride (Herb Remington)
16. One of These Days (Earl Montgomery)
17. The Boxer (Paul Simon)
18. Born to Run (Paul Kennerley)
19. The Price I Pay (Bill Parker Wildes/Christopher Hillman)
20. Sweet Dreams (Don Gibson)
21. Save the Last Dance for Me (Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman)
22. Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight (Rodney Crowell/Donovan Cowart)
23. Boulder to Birmingham (Emmylou Harris/Bill Danoff)
Harris has a busy 2021 tour schedule. Tickets for several of the shows are available here.
Listen to “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight”
Related: Our Album Rewind of Harris’ Trio recording with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt
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1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationSaw her right before the pandemic hit at Symphony Hall in Atlanta. My God she still is spectacular live. This album is solid gold. Never a tighter band. Look forward to hearing it. She is a national treasure.