Boulder to Birmingham - 2003 Remaster

Emmylou Harris cowrote this song with Bill Danoff after the death of Gram Parsons. The song has become famous for its heart-rending chorus: I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham I would hold my life in his saving grace I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham If I thought I could see, I could see your face The song is specifically about Parsons, but the song became a source of comfort for many people who could relate to the sentiment of losing someone close.

Early in her career, Harris toured with Gram Parsons and sang on his 1973 album GP. Parsons, who was a Country-Rock innovator, mentored Harris at a time when she was struggling in the business - her first album went nowhere and she was playing bars in the Washington DC area before teaming up with Parsons. They became good friends and showed incredible chemistry on their recordings and performances. Later in 1973, they were working on an album together when Parsons died of a drug overdose. The album, Grievous Angel, was posthumously released in 1974. Harris was devastated by Parson's death and expressed that sadness in this song. She said learning that Parsons had died was "like falling off a mountain."

Harris wrote about half of the songs on her 1969 debut album, but this was the only one she had a hand in writing for her second album, Pieces of the Sky. She wrote the lyrics to the song, and Bill Danoff composed the music. Danoff and his wife Taffy Nivert were well known in the DC music scene; they had co-written the John Denver hits "Take Me Home Country Roads" and "Friends With You." The year after Harris released Pieces of the Sky, Danoff had a huge hit with his group the Starland Vocal Band in "Afternoon Delight," which is titled after the appetizer menu at a DC restaurant/bar called Clyde's Of Georgetown. Harris had a regular gig there in the early '70s.