New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, and
Vince Gill - whose rich history and friendship runs for almost 50 years - reunited to perform a concert for Grand Ole Opry's Saturday night broadcast live on Circle TV this past weekend.
"I met Emmylou and Rodney when I was 19," Gill says. "I don't have two better friends in the world ... [Emmylou]'s the one in the middle that we all connect through."
Harris recorded Crowell's "Bluebird Wine" on her Pieces of the Sky album and later invited Crowell to be in her Hot Band during the 1970s. Crowell left the band in 1977 to embark on his own solo career, putting his own band, the Cherry Bombs, together. He continues to this day to work and collaborate with Harris, including their 2013 Grammy-winning album Old Yellow Moon, on which Gill performs, and its 2015 follow-up, The Traveling Kind, both released on Nonesuch Records.
Gill had been playing with Pure Prairie League when he left to be part of Crowell's the Cherry Bombs. In the mid-80s, Gill joined Harris's backing band for three albums—The Ballad of Sally Rose, Thirteen, and
Angel Band—with Thirteen being a project that Crowell also worked on with them. At the end of the 1980s, as each began to gain more traction with their own solo careers, they remained the best of friends and continued to support each other and collaborate together on projects.
"It's still my favorite gig, is playing with Rodney," Gill told No Depression last year, adding: "I can't even fathom what my life would be like if I hadn't met Emmy."
"Emmy and Vince? Hmm ... With those voices, maybe I'll have a chance if we're wearing masks," mused Crowell before the show.
"There's nothing better than singing with old and dear friends," says Harris, "especially if those friends happen to be Rodney and Vince."
As the Grand Ole Opry approaches its 95th year in the midst of a global pandemic, Opry members and special guest artists have kept the music playing from the unbroken circle and is reaching some of its largest audiences to date. The Opry has been reaching millions of fans and making new ones each week as it has logged viewers from over 100 countries worldwide who have been tuning in just since the live audience shows were paused in mid-March.
