On June 1-3, 2012, when AmerEquine Festival of the Horse premiers its educational, funfilled exposition, Emmylou Harris will be one of the nationally known music performers. Known as America's Rodeo Queen, she is also an animal activist and many of her original songs reflect her love of horses.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. This 12-time Grammy winner and celebrated interpreter of unique and expressive songs is also noted for her own songwriting and her collaborations with other noteworthy vocalists.
In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including Gram Parsons, The Band, Linda Ronstadt, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Mark Knopfler, Guy Clark, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Rodney Crowell, and Neil Young.
Emmylou Harris spent her childhood in North Carolina and Woodbridge, Virginia, where she graduated from Gar-Field Senior High School as class valedictorian.
In high school she won a drama scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she began to study music seriously, learning to play the songs of Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez on guitar.
Leaving college to pursue her musical aspirations, she moved to New York, working as a waitress to support herself while performing folk songs in Greenwich Village coffeehouses.
She married fellow songwriter Tom Slocum in 1969 and in the following year recorded her first album, Gliding Bird.
Her concerts are famous for tugging at the full spectrum of emotions. She is well known for her versatility, and widely respected by her peers as a singer's singer.
A lesser known aspect of her character is her activism on behalf of animals; she runs a shelter for dogs and is very involved with the equine community, both in song and in her rodeo work.