Song · First Aid Kit
“Emmylou” by First Aid Kit
From the album The Lion’s Roar (2012)
“Emmylou” by First Aid Kit appears on 14 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 2012 and 2025. It was first released in 2012 on the album The Lion’s Roar. Its best result is #5 on The Current Top 89 Songs of 2012. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #80 indie & aaa song of 2012 and #260 indie & aaa song of all time.
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Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg named "Emmylou" after Emmylou Harris, and on First Aid Kit's second album, The Lion's Roar (2012), it plays as a love letter to the thrill of harmonizing with someone you love. They'd fallen for Harris and Gram Parsons as teenagers, and the song holds up that partnership, alongside Johnny Cash and June Carter, as the model for their own.
Mike Mogis produced, engineered and mixed it, and his pedal steel lays a warm country cushion under the sisters' voices, with Mattias Bergqvist's easy drums and Ben Brodin's piano keeping it grounded. They took it to Conan and Letterman in 2012, and in 2015 they sang it for Harris herself at her Polar Music Prize dinner, where she was visibly moved.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 121 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 200 Songs of 2012 | 200 |
| 2012 | 5 | The Current Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | The Current Top 89 Songs of 2012 | 89 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 82 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2018 | 261 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs | 892 |
| 2019 | 62 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2019 | 66 | KEXP | KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time | 627 |
| 2019 | 62 | WYEP | WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 | 1017 |
| 2022 | 393 | KEXP | KEXP Top Songs of the Last 50 Years (1972-2022) | 491 |
| 2023 | 580 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2024 | 315 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
| 2024 | 231 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 494 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
| 2025 | 9 | The Current | 893 Essential Songs of The Current: 2005 to Now | 893 |
| 2025 | 199 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
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