Gliding Bird

Gliding Bird is the 1970 debut studio album by Emmylou Harris, released on the small Jubilee Records label shortly before it went bankrupt. Because of the label's collapse and the album's subsequent limited availability, it remained a 'lost' record for much of her career. Sonically, it is a departure from the country-rock and Americana sound she would define in the mid-70s. Produced by Ray Ellis, the album features a mix of folk covers and original material, including five songs written by Harris herself. The arrangements often lean toward baroque pop and chamber folk, utilizing light strings and woodwinds alongside standard acoustic guitar. While Harris later distanced herself from the record due to its production choices, it serves as a vital document of her early vocal style, which was more vibrato-heavy and traditionally 'folk' than her later work. It captures her just before her pivotal meeting with Gram Parsons, offering a snapshot of a Greenwich Village-style folk singer before she was 'converted' to country music.