Emmylou Harris- Celebrating Guy Clark, featuring Shawn Camp & Verlon Thompson
Saturday, April 5, 2025
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, The Riverside Theater
As I’ve mentioned many times through the years here on The 706, I had the privilege of growing up in a household of music lovers. My parents were constantly playing records from a vast array of artists, and it gave me a rich bedrock of tastes to build my own fandom off of. All of these records and artists instantly transport me back to those younger years, but perhaps none have the power to do so as magically as the great Emmylou Harris. After all, her angelic and uniquely ethereal pipes are as transformative as any other voice in all of popular music history, and her entire catalog was in as heavy rotation at Mom and Dad’s as any other artist. I fondly recall them reminiscing about discovering Harris’ music, and seeking her out live, as her commercial career took off during their college years. So, when the opportunity arose for the three of us to attend an Emmy concert in Milwaukee’s beautiful Riverside Theater this past weekend, I knew it was a cherished concert memory in the making. Mom and I had been able to see Harris and comrade Rodney Crowell back in 2013 as they were promoting their first fantastic set of duets, Old Yellow Moon. Now we would have a chance to see Emmylou headlining her own show, and this time Dad would be joining us. Needless to say that this show was a banner highlight on the 2025 concert calendar I had assembled for myself!
Now, in full disclosure, when I purchased these tickets I was mistakenly under the impression that this was a standard, full-band Emmylou show, with Verlon Thompson and Shawn Camp serving as the opening acts. I realized shortly before arrival to the show that it was in fact a one-set performance featuring the three artists paying homage to the legendary Guy Clark. Based on the some of the grumblings I overheard from fellow attendees, many were under the same impression as well, and they didn’t realize it until the show was actually unfolding. That said, one could hardly complain about this surprise as the music progressed. There was no band on stage with Harris, Thompson, Camp and the show instead resembled that of an intimate guitar-pull, with Emmylou playing the role as the moderator and central performer. Only a campfire would have made the stage cozier, and before long this tribute show ultimately revealed itself to be the kind of special treat that hardcore music lovers salivate over. Harris and her collaborators each interacted with both the audience and each other with a warm and amiable charm, reverence, and humility. The conversational nature amongst the trio almost made the spectator feel like they had been lucky enough to stumble upon a private, collaborative session. And even as she closes in on her 80s, Harris’ stage presence, aura, and especially her inimitable voice remain as gracefully timeless and otherworldly as any other decade throughout her half-century career.
The narrative arc of the concert essentially served as a journey not only throughout Clark’s career as an iconic singer and songwriter, but across the entire story of the Red Dirt and Americana scenes that he was so prominent in influencing from their infancies through to their modern incarnations. Each of the three performers were given the opportunity to sing lead, swap stories, and elaborate on the unique touch that Clark had on their own careers and musical lives. They each got to work as aspiring songwriters under Clark’s imposing learning tree. While Harris has always celebrated Clark as a prominent influence, and Camp earned glowing accolades as a producer on multiple Clark-tribute projects and Guy’s Grammy-winning 2013 final album, Thompson easily had the closest and most intimate contact with their subject, through frequent co-writes and appearances as a musician on nine of Clark’s LPs. Just as Clark had served as a muse for Harris and contemporaries of her era, Camp and Thompson both followed in his footsteps as hit-making songwriters, collectively scoring big-name cuts on albums from the likes of Randy Travis, Kenny Rogers, Barbara Mandrell, Trisha Yearwood, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Dierks Bentley, Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn, George Strait, Blake Shelton, and Josh Turner. Again, the influence of Clark and his disciples was not limited to the roots scenes; it remained quietly prominent on the mainstream well into the new millennium.
The raw, timeless authenticity and sheer jubilance elicited from both performing and hearing Clark’s mountainous collection of standards could be felt throughout the theater as Harris and her comrades faithfully revisited classics like “Texas-1947”, “Desperadoes Waiting For a Train”, “Black Diamond Strings”, “New Cut Road”, “Dublin Blues”, “Stuff That Works”, and “The Randall Knife”. If any attendees weren’t immediately familiar with the staggering power of Clark’s catalog when they arrived, that problem would be remedied by the time they departed. One of my personal highlights of the Clark selections was undoubtedly Thompson’s charming delivery of “The Cape”, an underrated gem that Kathy Mattea joyfully covered on her 1994 album, Walking Away A Winner and that my mom has always adored. Singing along to it with her from our seats was a joyous moment of musical nostalgia for me, and a moment that will leave me smiling for weeks and months to come.
Adding varied vigor to the setlist and the artists’ portrayal of not only Clark’s musical journey, but the overarching one of the Texas-country movement he helped lead, would be covers of artistic peers and successors like Townes Van Zandt, Rodney Crowell, and Steve Earle. Harris’ ever-iconic read of Van Zandt’s “Pancho & Lefty” was an undeniable showstopper, reminding all that while Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson made the song a country radio smash in 1983, it was Emmylou who first ushered the classic into the mainstream via its appearance on her legendary Luxury Liner album in 1977. Like virtually any other song she’s ever touched, her version of “Pancho” remains the gold standard. Clark’s wife, Susanna Clark, a vital talent in her own right, also garnered deserved praise during the show, with Harris delivering a sterling version of Susanna’s composition, “I’ll Be Your San Antone Rose”, which likewise appeared on Liner. Other selections from Harris’ own catalog for this show fittingly drew deserving light on her often-secondary role as a songwriter in her own right, specifically her Y2K epics, “Bang the Drum Slowly” (a Guy-co-write), and the marvelously tragic, “Red Dirt Girl”. Ironically, the latter tune brings to mind a humorous recollection from the 2013 Harris-Crowell show that I mentioned earlier. During that set, which also took place in Milwaukee, there was an obnoxiously drunk gentleman who drew the ire of the audience, and eventually Emmylou, by constantly screaming a request for “Red Dirt Girl” throughout the set. He finally shut up when Harris emphatically screamed back at him “Not Tonight!”. Irritating as that fan was, you can’t argue with his reverence for the song, and one can only hope he was in attendance at the Riverside to finally hear it on Saturday night. If he wasn’t, I can passionately attest on his behalf that its performance was more than worth the dozen year wait…
Bringing this special set to a rousing conclusion would be the glorious one-two troubadour punch of Crowell’s classic, “Leaving Louisiana In the Broad Daylight”, and one of Clark’s earliest standards, the anthemic “LA Freeway”, each of which had no issue getting the theater crowd to proudly sing along. It was a rousing finale to one of the most unique and special performances I’ve had the honor of witnessing.
Guy Clark undeniably reigns as one of music’s true heroes, but Emmylou Harris should never doubt her own similar status. It’s a joyful thrill to see her still performing with the same passion and commitment to both musical heritage and progression that have always been the cornerstones of her career. It’s been a decade since her last recorded release (her second duets set with Crowell, 2015’s The Traveling Kind), and an additional four since her last solo LP. I’m not sure if she feels like the sunset on her recording career has come and gone, or how much longer she’ll continue to tour either. She certainly has nothing left to prove, but this show demonstrates she still has plenty to offer. I’ll continue to clamor for the chance to see a full, proper set from the godmother of country-rock, but this special evening is likewise an experience I feel extremely fortunate to have witnessed. Thanks, Mom and Dad for joining me for this wonderful music memory together!
Set List:
- “Texas- 1947”- *Guy Clark Cover
- “Red River Valley”- *Traditional Cover
- “Desperadoes Waiting For A Train”- *Clark cover
- “Black Diamond Strings”- *Clark cover
- “I’ll Be Your San Antone Rose”- from Luxury Liner (1977)
- “Red Dirt Girl”- from Red Dirt Girl (2000)
- “If I Needed You”- from Cimarron (1981)
- “Pancho & Lefty”- from Luxury Liner (1977)
- “New Cut Road”- *Clark cover
- “Let Him Rolle”- *Clark cover
- “Dublin Blues- *Townes Van Zandt cover
- “Fort Worth Blues- *Steve Earle cover
- “Stuff That Works”- *Clark cover
- “Immigrant Eyes”- *Clark cover
- “The Cape”- *Clark cover
- “Bang the Drum Slowly”- from Red Dirt Girl (2000)
- “The Randall Knight”- *Clark cover
- “Sis Draper”- *Clark cover
- “Magnolia Wind”- *Clark cover
- “Leaving Louisiana In the Broad Daylight”- from Quarter Moon In a Ten Cent Town (1978)
- “LA Freeway”- *Clark cover
The 706 
Leave a comment