# 284 Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell on Americana Music
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 25 September 2023
⏱️ 52 minutes
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Summary
What is Americana music? Is it a genre? A community? A refuge? Twenty four years after the founding of the Americana Music Association and thirteen years since the first Grammy was awarded for Best Americana Album, defining "Americana" remains tricky. In our experience, the most common answer has been "you know it when you hear it."
However you define it, however, there is one thing everyone agrees on: Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell are Americana legends.
In this episode, recorded in front of a live audience in Nashville, TN, Emmylou and Rodney discuss their musical careers, how they became associated with Americana music, and what Americana means to them. Bob too shares his musical journey both before and after joining the Avett Brothers and the ways that genre (Americana and otherwise) has been part of that story.
Bob, Gary and I would like to thank Paul Lohr at New Frontier Touring for helping us get such incredible guests for the show, Adam Botner at Riverside Revival for making both the live show and the audio on this episode sound so good, Austin Sawyer of Drumming Bird & Annie DiRusso for opening the show with their incredible talent, and everyone who came out to make this such a special night.
We'd also like to give a special thanks to Jefferson Cowie for helping us prepare for the show.
This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher. Live audio recording and mixing by Adam Botner.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Ben Sawyer and this is the Road to Now. |
| 0:08.8 | This episode was recorded at Riverside Revival in Nashville, Tennessee, in front of a live audience. |
| 0:15.3 | Bob Gary and I would like to thank Paul Lour at New Frontier Touring for helping us get such an incredible lineup booked. Thanks to |
| 0:21.7 | Adam Botner at Riverside Revival for making both the live show and the audio on this episode sound |
| 0:26.9 | great. Thanks to Austin Sawyer and Annie DeRuso for opening this show up with incredible talent. If you |
| 0:33.2 | haven't checked out their music, check out Annie DeRousseau and Drummingbird. And a thanks to everyone |
| 0:38.4 | who came out to make this such an incredible night. We can't say thank you enough for this. |
| 0:43.4 | Finally, we want to give a big thanks to Jefferson Cowley. Jeff was on the lineup for the show |
| 0:48.0 | but was ill the night of and couldn't make it. But he met with us on multiple occasions to talk |
| 0:53.5 | about music, about history, and he really |
| 0:56.0 | helped us conceptualize the way we wanted the show to go. |
| 0:59.8 | So, Jeff, we're grateful to you for that. |
| 1:02.0 | We consider ourselves lucky to have you as a multi-time guest on this show and a friend, |
| 1:06.0 | and we look forward to getting you on stage with us in the near future. |
| 1:09.8 | And now, without further ado, our conversation with legendary musicians, Emmy Lou Harris, |
| 1:14.5 | and Rodney Crowell. |
| 1:17.7 | Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Road to Now Live. |
| 1:20.5 | Thank you so much for being here. |
| 1:26.4 | We're here to talk about Americana music tonight, and we're again really grateful that you all are here with us to talk about this subject, this genre. |
| 1:39.3 | And that's the question, right? What we wonder this week as we start the Americana Music Fest week and all the big |
| 1:47.5 | festivities going on in town, is Americana a genre? Is it a community? A community of musicians? |
| 1:57.6 | Or is it a refuge for artists that don't fit other places anymore? |
... |
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