“Red Dirt Girl” by Emmylou Harris

"Red Dirt Girl" is Emmylou Harris writing on her own, and the song gave its name to her nineteenth studio album, released on Nonesuch on September 12, 2000. That record was a real change of course: a country singer best known for interpreting other people's songs had a hand in writing eleven of its twelve tracks, when only two of her earlier LPs had carried more than a couple of her own compositions.

Malcolm Burn produced the song and plays bass, electric guitar and electronic drums on it, and he mixed it with Jim Watts, who recorded it. Harris plays acoustic guitar, Buddy Miller adds electric guitar, Ethan Johns plays omnichord and Daryl Johnson handles bass pedals and percussion, an unusual set of textures to wrap around a country voice.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.