Emmylou Harris - Spyboy

“A good song can live on and shine in many different ways and in the hands of many different musicians,” says Emmylou Harris. “It can have different meanings at different times in your life. A good song can accompany you anywhere.” That philosophy has guided her fifty-year career in country music, during which she has covered countless songs from countless genres, leaving her own indelible mark on each one. More specifically, it’s the philosophy that inspires both Spyboy, her late-1990s touring band, and Spyboy, the 1998 live album — showcasing how these musicians made her songs shine.

By placing old songs alongside new ones, the album tests the strength of each piece and pushes them into wilder, more psychedelic territory, while remaining firmly rooted in earthy country music. It stands as something entirely unique in her catalog — a crucial document of an important chapter in her career — and is finally being reissued after years of being unavailable. “It’s such a special record,” she says. “Well, they all are, but this one is really very special. That was such a fantastic band and such a wonderful time.”

Spyboy emerged from Wrecking Ball, Harris’s groundbreaking 1995 collaboration with producer Daniel Lanois. In 1996 and 1997, the band — also called Spyboy — toured across America and Europe with Buddy Miller, Brady Blade, and Daryl Johnson, never playing the same song the same way twice. Buddy Miller brought his recording equipment along and captured nearly every show on the tour. When the tour ended, Miller and Harris sat down together to sift through hundreds of tracks, selecting the performances that best represented the Spyboy ethos of endless possibilities.