Born in 1947 into a military family stationed in Birmingham, Alabama and raised in North Carolina and Virginia, Emmylou Harris was valedictorian of her high school class. Though she won a drama scholarship to the University of North Carolina, she gravitated more and more towards music.
“Blessed with a crystalline voice, a remarkable gift for phrasing, and a restless creative spirit, few artists had as profound an impact on contemporary music as Emmylou Harris,” notes AllMusic. “She traveled a singular artistic path, proudly carrying the torch of ‘cosmic American music’ passed down by her mentor, Gram Parsons, which made a profound mark on both country and rock. Beginning as a folk singer in New York City, Harris released her first album in 1970.” Later in her career, she is “consistently iconoclastic, eclectic, or daring … Harris’ latter-day music remained as heartfelt, visionary, and vital as her earliest recordings.”
“Making Believe,” written by Jimmy Work, was first recorded by Kitty Wells in 1955. The song is on many lists of all-time top country music songs and has been covered by a varied list of artists, including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and Merle Haggard — but also soul great Ray Charles, punk band Social Distortion, and Danish metal band Volbeat. Harris’ 1977 version hit #8 on the US Country charts and #1 in Canada. In 1978, the tune was honored by BMI as one of the 101 most award-winning Country songs. According to The Tennessean, songwriter Jimmy Work later lived a quiet blue collar life: he went to work for Goodyear Tire, then retired as a millwright. He passed away in 2018 at age 94.
A classic whole-step key change hits at the 1:53 mark.
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