Song · Emmylou Harris
“Boulder To Birmingham” by Emmylou Harris
From the album Pieces of the Sky (1975)
“Boulder To Birmingham” by Emmylou Harris appears on 6 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 2001 and 2026. It was first released in 1975 on the album Pieces of the Sky. Its best result is #124 on The Colorado Sound Top 800 Songs About Places. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,613 indie & aaa song of all time.
Emmylou Harris wrote "Boulder to Birmingham" with Bill Danoff, and it first surfaced on her 1975 album Pieces of the Sky, with Brian Ahern producing. Ahern stacked the room with heavyweights: James Burton on electric guitar, Ben Keith on steel, Glen D. Hardin on electric piano, Bill Payne on piano, Ray Pohlman on bass and Ron Tutt on drums, with Rick Cunha's acoustic guitar next to Harris's own and Herb Pedersen adding 12-string and harmony vocals.
For all that firepower, it's her voice, clear as a mountain creek, that the song hangs on. The list-makers have caught up with it since: in 2024 Rolling Stone put it at 153 on its rundown of the 200 greatest country songs, and in June 2026 CBS News named it among 250 essential American songs from the nation's past 250 years.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 996 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2020 | 1598 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2022 | 914 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Colorado Sound Songs of All Time | 1055 |
| 2023 | 124 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 800 Songs About Places | 800 |
| 2026 | 991 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
| 2026 | 579 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs You Discovered on The Colorado Sound | 1055 |
Also listed as: Boulder to Birmingham.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Boulder To Birmingham" by Emmylou Harris.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.