Emmylou Harris will release her new album, Hard Bargain, on April 26th on Nonesuch Records. She will be performing at SXSW this year and has confirmed two intimate performances in NYC and Los Angeles
Additionally, on April 27, Harris will perform on the Late Show with David Letterman.
"We did the whole record in about a month, which is quite unusual for me. But I had all the material beforehand. I'd written 11 of the 13 songs and I really wanted to include two more by other writers," Harris explains. "One of the covers is Ron Sexsmith's 'Hard Bargain' which I absolutely love. The other is by Jay Joyce, called 'Cross Yourself.'
"We did the whole thing with just three musicians, me being one of them. Jay, the producer, and Giles Reeves play everything between them. It's not a stripped down record though; there's only one song that's a little bare bones. I'm basically a slow ballad-y person, but Jay managed to really move the songs up a bit. But they still have the same emotional feel."
Two of the album's songs look back at relationships that were central to Harris' creative life. She wrote "Darlin' Kate" for her close friend and collaborator Kate McGarrigle, who died last year of a rare form of cancer, while "The Road" casts its eye further back to the formative time Harris spent with country/rock icon Gram Parsons at the beginning of her career.
HARD BARGAIN TRACKLIST
1. The Road
2. Home Sweet Home
3. My Name Is Emmett Till
4. Goodnight Old World
5. New Orleans
6. Big Black Dog
7. Lonely Girl
8. Hard Bargain
9. Six White Cadillacs
10. The Ship on His Arm
11. Darlin' Kate
12. Nobody
13. Cross Yourself
Confirmed Tour Dates
March 17 Austin, TX SXSW @ Antone's
April 21 Los Angeles, CA El Rey
April 26 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom