tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, our conversation with country music legend emmylou harris. she is out next week with her critically acclaimed new project "hard bargain." >> nationwide insurancee j supports tavis smiley. with every question and answer, nationwide insurance is happy to help tavis improve financial

literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- tavis: pleased to welcome them in the harris to this program. the legendary singer-songwriter is a member of the country music hall of fame and 12-time grammy winner. she has a new c.d. next week called "hard bargain." from the project, here is some of the video from "goodnight old world." you tomorrow

sorrow with good night, old tavis: during that clip, i said how good you still sound. and i'm very blessed i still work and have a good audience and love what i do. i am even able to have a bit of a second career in dog rescue. it does not pay anything, but it has become a real passion for me. i have a couple passions in my life that i am able to put my energy and time into, and it

does not get much better than that. tavis: you mentioned the dog rescue, that it is a passion of yours. tell me exactly what you are doing. >> basically, i have a very small risk in my backyard in nashville, tenn., -- i have a very small rescue in my backyard in nashville, tenn., and we rescue dogs from animal control that have a very limited time before the animal is put down because nobody comes to claim it or adopt it. we tried to rescue a few of those dogs and keep them until they find what they call forever homes. we are hoping to expand, engage with the community and a larger shelter for dogs and cats in the community, but my little shelter in my backyard will stay very small. tavis: have you always been an

animal lover? >> pretty much. my father worked and that an airey medicine and he joined the marine corps and then that my mother and they elect. if -- he worked in veterinary medicine and he joined the marine corps and then they looked. my father and relatives on my mother's side, everyone had pets. i think it instilled in me a sense of compassion and respect for all living creatures, but i did not live on a farm or anything, so we just had the household pets. tavis: since you mention your father and changing of careers, i have been dying to ask you, you graduate as the valedictorian of your high school class. >> yes, i did. tavis: are you still proud of

that? >> it was something. i was so obsessed with studying. i don't think i really learned anything, but i got good grades. tavis: i will come back to that, i promise. you graduate of valedictorian from your high-school class, go off to college, and then you at some point have to tell your parents that you are dropping out of school, after being the valedictorian, to pursue your music career. what did your mom and dad say about that? >> my parents were not very happy. there were very worried about me pursuing a career that even if i had talent might not give me the happiness and the success that any parent hopes for their child. i have to say my parents, for all their reservations, it or incredibly supportive. when things did not work out and i ended up being a single mother with a young daughter, i had no

place to go at one point than to come home, and was never any of this, "i told you so." it was welcoming with open arms, and as long as i needed to be there their war of extraordinary help with me and my daughter, who is now 41. a lot of things that happened for me and my career i could not have done without the support and love of my parents. tavis: back to the valedictorian story. you talked about how upset you were with studying. is that part of your personality? -- he talked about how committed you were to studying. is that part of your personality with your music career? >> i think i can be pretty focused, but it was more trying to be the good student, and also my parents had expectations. they would not have cared if i got a "b" or "c" or even a "d,"

but i had the ability to memorize and give stuff back. i was the perfect student for that kind of education that to not require you to think too much -- that did not require you to think too much. i had a 4.0 average from eighth grade to 12. which is ridiculous. >> that is embarrassing. before i ask one last question about the valedictorian thing, have to turn to the camera and say to my mom, mom, her parents were ok with a "c" or "d." you said earlier you were obsessed with trying to get the grades, keeping the 4.0 average, that you are not sure if you learned anything. we are wrestling with that right

now in our education system, my own point of view, this whole notion of teaching to the test and making these kids learn to pass the test, i am not sure what we're learning. is that teaching kids to think critically for themselves? this debate is raging across the country. what did you mean about that? >> my senior year, we had a controversy all english teacher. he was very tough. he was asking kids to think. if you give something back to the teacher, he would say, what did you mean by that? half the kids in the class were given the option to leave, but i stayed because i felt i was being challenged. he was probably the best teacher i had, that really taught me to think a little bit. it was an english teacher, so it was different, but it was my senior year.

and then, at the same time, around my sophomore/junior year, i became involved with the folk music revival in the united states. i could hear a lot of that on the radio from american university. my father was stationed at quantico, and that became a passion for me. as far as a student, i bought books and taught myself to play the guitar, three chords, but it was all i needed. that became a driving passion for me. but it was different from the obsession that i had with getting the grades. that was just, for myself, something that thought i was supposed to do. somehow i told myself i had to get good grades, even though my parents, i knew that it please

them. i loved my parents and i wanted to please them. i was just doing what i thought i was supposed to do. but with the music, that is a different animal. that was something that transcended just doing something because that is what he thought people expected of you. that was purely for myself. tavis: now that i understand the process with regard to your study, but has been the process for your music in terms of producing and writing and performing? the grades you thought you had to do for your parents. tell me about the process with your music. >> with the music, you are passionate about it, like you are hungry for something. in the beginning, i was always called a joan baez copier. i did not have a style of my own. it was not until i met and started with gram parsons that brought the country and rock music together.

he was in a group called the byrds, and then they started the quintessential country western called the garrido brothers. after his death, but after i had only known him a year and was converted to country music and found my voice in that harmony singing and that kind of music, i really felt like i was supposed to carry forward his music, in a way, or at least try to convert people of my generation to country music. we tended to kind of dismiss it. i still had my love of folk music and i was still inspired by folk music, because in a sense they are all coming from the same pool. but when you are working on

something that you love and you have the opportunity to learn with graham, who was kind of my teacher, and then to find myself with a really good people, really good musicians, the opportunity to make a record, and then lo and behold i had an audience, there was nothing to stop me but to keep learning those songs and trying to write. a lot had to do what the people who came in my sphere, wonderful talented young writers aware of my generation -- young writers who were of my generation, but who understood country music. why would you stop? i love the road, i love going out and playing. tavis: still? >> yes, still. i take a couple dogs with me.

tavis: you said earlier that you feel blessed to still have an audience. how would you describe your audience? >> it is funny, there are people who have been with me from the very first record and people who go back to being graham parsons fans, even though we had a short career. it was mighty. he was very influential and affected a lot of people who are still very passionate about his music. there are people who came to me through graham, people who have been fan since the first album. for a while there, i would have younger people come up and say, my father just love your music. now it is becoming grandpas, but that is okay. i found that i have younger

fans, too, especially when i made "wrecking ball." that was a different record, and a lot of people came out out of curiosity of what was this combination going to be. but i think people stayed because the music had an effect on them. tavis: i am trying to understand, given that you were admittedly a joan baez copy initially, how was it that parsons help you, emmylou, find your own voice, your own stylings? how did you turn into an original? >> i think everybody starts out copying somebody. he tried to copy the best people. what happened along the way it is, okay, i will try to sing a dolly parton song because i love her, but i cannot do certain things the way she can, but i want to sing that song.

somebody said once, style as a product of your limitations, which is good, otherwise you have one singer who sings everything and it would not be interesting. tavis: that is a great quote. >> i think it resonates in the arts and a lot of ways, but definitely singing. i know i am very aware of what i cannot do, but i don't worry about it. as i just focus on what i can. with gram, it was a very narrow pathway of starting out by singing harmony. first of all, you are focusing on the second melody that is falling someone else possibility, almost like dancing with somebody, although i am not a very good dancer. i never could do that. but i think it makes you focus more on the words and following somebody else. but almost your attention away from yourself, and you get into

the music. and serving the song. this may be something i am making up, you know, because it seems to me now, after all this once i gotcertainly want this passion for country music and i discovered bill monroe and the incredible harmonies and the voice of george jones, which i should have discovered because my brother is a country music fan and would play those records, but all i wanted to hear was bob dylan. my ears were closed to that. but once i heard and that deep into singing those songs and listening to those songs, those great artists, i just somehow. it was like coming in through the back door. tavis: i feel obligated to come

back and ask, if you will open up to this on me, and this is the notion of knowing what you could do and what he cannot do. if you're going to be a success in life, whatever that means, you have to know what you can do and what you cannot do. after all of your success and all the records, just tell me one thing that you cannot do with your voice. >> well, for one thing, but not saying as high as people think i can, definitely not now. i was more of an alto. i just sound like a soprano. but even certain intervals are really hard for me. i just cannot hear them. when somebody says to me, it is just a half step, i say, please do not stay that to me -- please do not say that to me. you know?

and certain intervals, i know i was trying to sing a harmony part on a record, and were doing that album in asheville. i had someone part and decided that i would sound better on this other part, which required an interval that happened in a minor. -- iaid, it just goes to rejec said, don't say the out "m"- word, i don't think i ever got that part. but i cannot do that, but there are other things i can do. hopefully you don't run into too many things that you just cannot do or don't do very well. you can improve yourself out as a human being and push yourself on certain levels to become more educated or more thoughtful or whatever, but i think your

talent is your talent. for me, i'm very content with what i have, with that territory that i have with this voice. it seems to me that is less less rigid that it is limitless, the opportunities for songs and things that i love singing, and i can hopefully put across emotionally that i don't have to become a different kind of singer and a different form of music. tavis: you mentioned names of a couple friends of yours that we know that you have collaborated with over the years. he mentioned that bob dylan, neil young, and there are obviously countless others. to my mind, it's time to look at your discography,. if i look at your discography, you appreciate collaboration. why so? >> to me, it is all about collaboration. once you teach yourself chords,

if you make a record, it is about working with musicians. i have worked with extraordinary musicians and they're all you need and they all had something to contribute to that process -- they are all unique and they all had something to contribute to that process. and there were also appear collaborations, singing, making records with dolly parton and linda ronstadt. it is just a joy to be able to see the uniqueness of everyone who is a musician, whether they just plain instrument or the instrument is their voice. i am amazed at the combinations and the beauty of people making music together. it has been a joy for me, whether it is out on the road with my bad or backing out to making that record, which you take out on the road. it really is a group process and collaboration. tavis: tell me about "hard

bargain," the new one. >> ok, it is interesting the way that we made it. i had worked with the producer on a couple of one-all things where we did in tire tracks with just him. is he is a versatile musician and producer, and another musician who plays a lot of instruments. when i proposed that -- when i approached him about producing a record, he said, let's just start with the three of us and see how far we get. i think we could do the whole record this way, but if you feel that you need a specific informant -- a specific instrument that we cannot play or a harmony or whatever, we will bring somebody in. but we did the whole record with just the three of us. tavis: in 30 days. >> i think so. i think it took longer to sequence the record than it did to make the record. tavis: that is funny on one

hand. on the other hand, what does that mean that takes longer to sequence the record then to get the music out? >> i don't think i have all the sudden got into a point or to make a record that quickly. i think it had to do with jay, the way he likes to work. every time i got a song and we knew what we wanted to record, he had a guitar and vocal so that he could study upon it. i am assuming this is how he works. he was certainly prepared, day one, when i came in. he said let's start with this song. he had ideas about what he wanted to play, and consulting with giles, to see what he wanted to play. i knew what i was going to play because on to play the song as i had written it. basically, it was all laid out and we just kept doing takes until we got a pretty good live

vocal that we could maybe make a little better with a few overdubs. i like to make several passes and decide on the take. i like to sing the song five, six times, while the molecules are still moving in the room and your voice is still in that place that is really warmed up and you feel like you really have a hold on the song. tavis: we opened the show with a piece from the record "good night, old world," but when i got the cd, i appreciate this. i am a black man, obviously, born in mississippi. tell me about the track, "emmett till." >> i am from birmingham, a very tumultuous generation that we share, from totally different

sides. really the story of an that till -- a em emmett till is a terrible tragedy in a story that we are aware of. i was actually listening to npr and we're talking about it and it made me remember the story. sometimes, tavis, i think that you channel things. i just kind of got the mind that i was born a black boy, and from there, most of the song is just a telling of the horrific tragedy of what happened, in his own voice. and then, from my point of view, giving him the words that he should not just be a footnote in history. that we must always remember the tragedy of a life cut short for

such a terrible reason. but once again, it is the mystery of songwriting. we don't really know where these things come from. tavis: when i heard that track, it reminded me of what i love about your work, and it is the truth that comes through, the humidity that comes through in your music. thank you for that. -- the humanity that comes through in your music. the new cd is called "hard bargain," emmylou harris. that is our show for tonight. until next time, good night from l.a. and keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org

a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--