Emmylou Harris

Stumble into Grace

About this Album

“Behind the air of fragility is the serene confidence of a singer who knows the power of reticence to draw a listener closer. Ms. Harris’s voice inhabits her songs like a wraith, intangible but omnipresent.” —New York Times

Eleven-time Grammy-winner and Billboard Century Award–recipient Emmylou Harris, long known for her legendary singing voice, is now emerging as a songwriter of distinction. Harris’s highly anticipated Stumble into Grace is her second consecutive record (and only the third in her celebrated career) composed almost entirely of songs she has written or co-written.

Stumble into Grace follows Harris’s critically acclaimed Nonesuch debut, Red Dirt Girl (2000), which won a Grammy Award and was the artist’s best-selling album in 20 years. That record was only the second one for which she had written the lion’s share of the songs (the first was 1985’s Ballad of Sally Rose).

Stumble into Grace was produced by Malcolm Burn, as was Red Dirt Girl. Like its predecessor and 1995’s Wrecking Ball, which was engineered and mixed by Burn, Stumble into Grace shows Harris working in a sonic landscape far removed from the more traditional sound of her 1970s and '80s recordings—with her sophisticated songwriting adding an additional dimension to the music. As Newsweek says, “Her stellar voice takes on new depth when tied to songs this personal.”

Harris’s personal history is inscribed in Stumble into Grace via the participation of female artists from within her vital musical community. Longtime collaborator and friend Linda Ronstadt sings on “Strong Hand,” which is dedicated to the late June Carter Cash. Kate and Anna McGarrigle co-wrote “Little Bird,” as well as the traditional “Plaisir d’Amour”—and also join in on both songs’ vocals—in a reciprocation of Harris’s contribution to their celebrated album, The McGarrigle Hour. “I Will Dream” features Jane Siberry, who also sings on “Lost Unto This World.” Julie Miller sang on “Here I Am,” and Jill Cuniff of Luscious Jackson co-wrote “Time in Babylon.”

Shortly after the release of Stumble into Grace, Emmylou Harris participated in a cross-venue Carnegie Hall festival, for which she curated four concerts in the new, intimate Zankel Hall. The Zankel performances featured Steve Earle, Patty Griffin, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and Buddy and Julie Miller; the mini-festival culminated with Harris’s own performance in Carnegie's main stage, Stern Auditorium.