SLCene Suggests: Emmylou Harris at Red Butte Garden

EMMYLOU HARRIS, RED BUTTE GARDEN, Tuesday, June 3, 7 p.m., Sold out

When Red Butte Garden announced its summer slate of concerts this year, it featured the typical mix of musical styles, of artists young and old, and of acts that are familiar faces at the venue and those playing the garden for the first time. When I saw the lineup, I naturally looked for the opener, since the first Red Butte show is a sort of my  unofficial start of summer. And I couldn’t have been happier to find the legendary Emmylou Harris in the starting position.

With a sound steeped in country and folk, Harris has spent more than four decades recording and touring with the best in the business. Her incredible voice has proved a perfect complement to those of people like Gram Parsons, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Mark Knopfler. More recently, she won the 2014 Grammy for Best Americana Album for her album-length collaboration with Rodney Crowell on a set called Old Yellow Moon.

Her solo work is excellent, too, and this summer she is celebrating the reissue of her excellent 1995 album, Wrecking Ball. The collection was produced by Daniel Lanois, and includes songs written by the likes of Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Lucinda Williams. The album re-established Harris as a musical force, and I expect we’ll hear plenty of songs from that set at her show at Red Butte Garden. Nathaniel Rateliff opens the show.