BBC Four: I believe you had some bad luck while shooting the programme.
Paul Bernays: Everything was set up to film and Johnny Cash died the day we were getting on the plane to go to Nashville. When we were supposed to be at Emmylou's house she was standing in front of Johnny Cash's coffin singing at his funeral. We only managed to schedule in our interview three weeks later, the day before we left, so it was really touch and go.
BBC Four: The collaboration between Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons is discussed in the programme and illustrated with some amazing archive. What do you think made their duets so special?
PB: It's what Elvis Costello said, Gram's fragile, uneven but very truthful voice and her superb harmony singing on top is a really powerful combination. He had a vision of fusing country and rock and was the first person of his generation to say, "This isn't just music you listen to when you get your membership of the National Rifle Association, this has real heart and soul, it's the white man's blues" and she took that project forward, she took it to the babyboomers.
BBC Four: How influential was she in popularising country for a younger, hipper audience?
PB: Massively, because Gram had a vision of popularising the music but he didn't really have the discipline and he kind of squandered it. Emmylou continued his work, she covered the old country standards, sang his songs and took them completely mainstream.
BBC Four: Do you think she would have had a similar career as a solo artist if Gram Parsons had lived?
PB: Emmylou was certainly thinking about it. She was planning a solo record some time in the future but was thrust into the spotlight much earlier than she wanted. She knew what she wanted to do when she grew up but Gram was her mentor and was going to help her get there and he died, in those terms, much too soon.
BBC Four: Do you think she would have started writing her own material without the spur of his death?
PB: It's awful to say but no, she wouldn't have written those songs without that emotional impetus. She had written songs before she met him but they were sort of insipid folky ones.
BBC Four: Why do you think she had a resurgence in the 1990s and this decade?
PB: To some degree she let go of country, it was like "mission accomplished". In fact she'd accomplished Gram's mission years before, and she did tread water in country for a while, she'd say so herself. Perhaps this happens when you hit middle age, you just let go of a lot of things and decide, "What the hell! I'm going to follow what I want, wherever it takes me and damn the torpedoes." And people responded to it very well. It was a very brave move and she's made some very intelligent choices as an artist. Her late material is extraordinary, it's got that same level of commitment and passion that she brings to what she does when she's doing the right thing, which is most of the time.
BBC Four: How has the country community responded to this reinvention?
PB: They were shocked, some of them accepted it and some didn't. But country had already crossed over into pop and she was going into rock and working with Daniel Lanois, who produced The Joshua Tree for U2. It seemed odd at the time but now he's worked with Willie Nelson and various other country people, and then the rock producer Rick Rubin made those Johnny Cash albums, so she sort of led the way again. There's certainly a conservative stream, the country old guard were a bit taken aback that their beautiful Emmylou had started making an unholy racket. If you listen to the music that's clearly not the case, it's beautiful.
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