The Road

Album: Hard Bargain (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • This first single from Hard Bargain recalls Emmylou's early years singing with her mentor, country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons, who died in 1973 from a drug overdose. She said: "I really just told that story the way I see it in my mind, the brief time we had and how I couldn't imagine that Gram wouldn't be around forever. Life goes on and unfolds before you, but those people and those events that change you forever are always with you. It was an important event that determined the trajectory of my life and, more than anything, of my work."
  • Parsons' tragic early death left Harris at an emotional and musical crossroads. Her earliest signature song, "Boulder to Birmingham," written shortly after Gram's death, showed the depth of her shock and pain at losing her friend and mentor.

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