Emmylou Harris was up in a military family. Her mother, Eugenia (1921-2014), and father, Marine Corps officer Walter Rutland Harris (1921-1993), were also wartime military wives. In 1952, her father was reported missing in action in Korea and imprisoned for ten months.
Harris was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and spent her childhood in North Carolina and Woodbridge, Virginia, where she graduated from Gar-Field Senior High School as class valedictorian.
She was awarded a theatrical scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, where she began studying music and learning Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez songs on guitar.
Did Mark Knopfler have a relationship with Emmylou Harris?
Mark Knopfler and country queen Emmylou Harris fit into the latter category: a long-term relationship that has allowed Knopfler to accept Harris’ aptitude for Americana.
Their June 22 concert in New York was a solid blend of songs from the duet’s album “All The Roadrunning,” as well as songs from each artist’s separate careers. Not unexpectedly, both Knopfler and Harris seemed most at ease while performing their own material.
Harris’ trademark voice made its way into gorgeous versions of “Michelangelo” and “Boulder To Birmingham,” converting the Knopfler-heavy audience note by note. Similarly, when he sang “Romeo and Juliet” and the lengthy “Speedway at Nazareth,” Knopfler earned standing ovations.
