Emmylou Harris and Buddy Miller seem like birds of an eternal feather, having played together frequently over the decades, but there is a first time for everything. And for these two, that first time was the tour Harris did with Miller supporting her on guitar that is commemorated on a live album, “Spyboy,” that is being reissued with substantial bonus material this weekend. Variety has the exclusive streaming premiere of the newly expanded album (check it out via the playlist below).

Harris and Miller sat down together in Nashville and hooked up with Variety via Zoom to discuss what makes the “Spyboy” live album an essential adjunct to the studio album that came right before it, “Wrecking Ball,” which many fans consider Harris’ best. That latter album was about as dramatic a turning point as any artist has experienced mid-career, made with a serious sonic assist from producer Daniel Lanois. He helped form the band that Harris took out on the road to support “Wrecking Ball” — with quite a different sound than the bluegrass-oriented Nash Ramblers she’d just been on the road with — and when he was only able to play a short time with them, someone with serious chops and an even more serious sensibility was needed to step in. That ended up being Miller, now a legend in his own right but a bit more of an unknown quantity at the time. As “Spyboy” proves, it was a musical marriage made in the heavens.

If you want to sensibly own a copy of “Spyboy” and not just stream it, find the links to order it through New West Records here or via Bandcamp here. The 2025 edition includes five bonus tracks — covers of Tom Petty’s “Thing About You,” Bob Dylan’s “Every Grain of Sand,” Bill Monroe’s “Get Up John” and Lucinda Williams’ “Sweet Old World,” as well as the Harris/Kate & Anna McGarrigle co-write “All I Left Behind” — and also features updated artwork plus new liner notes written by Harris and Miller. Meanwhile, here are highlights from our conversation.

Who was it that was championing the idea that the “Spyboy” album needed some 21^st century love, and that there needed to be a proper reissue? Was it the two of you, or the record company, or…?

Harris: We realized we don’t know. However, Buddy was transferring some tapes, and because there was more that we could have put on the original “Spyboy,” Buddy sent me the extra tracks. I was just blown away. I mean, there was a track that we didn’t even remember, that we probably just did one night — a Tom Petty song called “Thing About You.” We must have just thrown it out one night on a lark. Yo have that was like this gift from the universe, this great version of this Tom Petty song where Buddy takes the lead, sets it up and becomes this great kind of conduit between the two of us.

So it was the idea of having extra tracks that had never been heard, combined with the fact that I always hoped that “Spyboy” would get a second chance. I was really proud of that record, that band and that period of time in the music we made. And then New West came along, who would put it out, so I guess it was the stars coming together at just the right time before this for it to happen.

Buddy, had you thought much about the album in the intervening years or wanted people to have a chance to hear it again?

Miller: Well, I hadn’t thought about the album, but I loved the band so much. That’s why I wanted to record it while I was in it. I recorded it on these little DATs, if you know what those were. They came and went very quickly, for good reason, but they arrived just in time to make “Spyboy.” And I just loved the band so much that I wanted to document it as proof, so that when I couldn’t remember anything, I could play it and go, “Yeah, I was in that thing,” because I got to play with Emmylou Harris, which was a big deal for me.

When you were recording so many shows on the tour, you weren’t necessarily thinking, “Hey, I am recording a live album here,” right?

Miller: Oh, no, no, no. I wasn’t thinking about a record or anything like that, and that’s nice. If you’re just recording one show for a live album, you’re thinking about that recording while you’re playing, which isn’t a good thing. I recorded over 20 shows and was just doing it for fun because I loved the band. It was for posterity. Our posterity.

Harris: I think that’s what kind of makes it special in a way.

Miller: Getting to play with that voice every night, that was a big deal for me. And it was my first real gig…

First real gig? You were already accomplished by that time, at least in inner circles…

Miller: By “real,” I guess, I mean bus gig — we actually were on a bus instead of a van! You know you reached new heights as a professional musician when you actually get on that bus. First gig with the toilet on the road. And I couldn’t have had a better gig. It’s still my best. The best gig I’ve had.

Harris: He was always on time to get on a bus. We never had to wait for him.

And no memory of doing the Petty song that is now on the album?

Miller: It was so strange when I was transferring those tapes over; it was such an out-of-body experience, almost. That sounds like me, but what is this? I didn’t recognize anything about it. Emmy sort of encourages musicians to go out on a limb, to a certain extent, and so every night was different, and you don’t want to play the same show. Of course, it’s a different audience every night, but we are the same band every night. And it helps me to just know that there’s something that maybe we haven’t played in a while. A lot of the material was from “Wrecking Ball,” and you encouraged us to go where the music leads. It wasn’t just learning the licks off the record and playing it like that.

Harris: Oh no, because every musician is unique. You have a blueprint for a song when you may do it for an album, and live, you follow it up to a point, but I think it’s important to not limit yourself and put a musician in a box, like a guitarist who has a completely different style. I think they should be free to make it their own.

Talk about what it was like having Buddy come in as the guitarist after Daniel Lanois had done a few shows with you to set it up and then had to drop out.

Harris: Well, during the recording of “Wrecking Ball,” I knew something different was happening sonically that I was very happy that it was happening. It is true that I had met Buddy. I’d sung on his record and his wife Julie’s records. I’d heard his playing. I thought, “When it comes time to take this on the road, I’m pretty sure that Buddy Miller might be a part of it.” It was Daniel who graciously actually put the first incarnation together with Brady Blade and Darrell Johnson. Brady had not been on the record. His brother, Brian, had been; Darrell had been on the record. So the four of us went out playing, knowing that this was temporary (with Lanois). And so I thought, “Well, let’s plug in Buddy.” And it was never a period of “Oh, he’ll eventually get it.” Buddy was bang-on from the first note. It’s like Spyboy was born fully formed, and a lot of it had to do with the blueprint that Daniel put together.

Let’s talk for a minute about “Wrecking Ball” itself. It’s such a touchstone for musicians; Brandi Carlile has repeatedly referenced it as a partial model for how she wanted to approach her latest album. You must be hyper-aware of how it has become that in the music community.

Harris: Well, not at the time. I mean, really, I was just at a crossroads. I had sort of been constantly playing Daniel’s “Oh Mercy,” the Dylan album he produced, and I love Dylan, but he sort of brought me back to Dylan with whatever he did on that record. And then, Daniel’s solo record at the time, too,there was something about the sound. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I knew that country radio had decided I was too old or whatever. My record company just said, “What do you wanna do?” And I said, “Well, I’d like to work with Daniel.” And we had no idea what kind of record we were gonna make. We didn’t sit down and say, “This is going to be life-changing,” or “career-changing.” We just wanted to work together. And it’s always very subjective, isn’t it? For me, it’s always sort of one song at a time, and I just wanted to work with somebody who might inspire me to new heights. You just go into the studio to make a record because that’s what you do with songs that excite you. I suppose I was very excited about what we came up with, and whether or not anybody else was, I had no control over that.

Buddy, when you were hearing “Wrecking Ball,” did you have any first impressions, even though you weren’t in the band yet?

Miller: At that point, Emmy had come over to my house to sing on my first record on Hightone Records. And on “Wrecking Ball,” they recorded a song of my wife, Julie’s “All My Tears,” on “Wrecking Ball,” and she brought that over to play for me. It was a completely different take on the song, and it sounded otherworldly, and it was nothing like what we were used to. I was completely enthralled and couldn’t wait to hear the whole record. It made total sense to me. I didn’t know you well at that time. You know, I was a fan since the first record, and this was a departure musically, but every step of it, every track, it was so beautiful and musical and framed your voice in just a whole different way, I was drawn in. I loved everything about it. And you know, what I kind of come from, playing-wise, is just basically being a simple country guitar player. But I got it musically and fell in love with it.

When it came time to do this tour that we hear on the “Spyboy” album, it was going to naturally mix “Wrecking Ball” songs with catalog material that felt more comparatively traditional. Did you think that it all needed to feel of a piece, live, the way these different eras of music were performed?

Harris: You know, I don’t think there was any thought put into it, as I recall… and of course this is a long time ago… Obviously we had older material because we were doing an hour-and-a-half show, so you had to do a lot more than just the songs that were on “Wrecking Ball” when we were out touring. So we did have songs like “Boulder to Birmingham” and “Tulsa Queen” and “Green Pastures” as well as songs that we had done with Dan. And then when Buddy came into the band… Whatever the reason, I think that putting in the older material and giving those songs a different feel …  made “Spyboy” a more interesting record than if it had just been “Wrecking Ball Live.”

Miller: I think it feels like a band. At the same time, I had so much respect for and knew all of Emmy’s records, from the first record on, that I felt that a lot of the guitar parts on those records needed to be honored and part of a song, or at least alluded to. I would certainly never tell the (other two) guys what to play, because they’re so creative. But I would just want to respect the songs and those parts that were on the record, or always give a nod to every lead guitar player. Because I’ve worked with James Burton, Albert Lee, Daniel … I mean, I respect their styles, so I want to have that in there when I’m performing live. You can allude to how it was created, how the song was born in the studio, but live, there’s always room for it to go someplace else, you know?

So there would be a partial reinvention of the songs, but with a lot of respect paid for how people knew the songs and how they were played originally, somehow mixed in there.

Miller: Right. Although the rhythm section probably never heard those records!

Harris: That’s true. Which is interesting, because it added a whole different feel which inspired me as a singer to… I don’t know, not to to sing differently, but it was just exciting every night. I wouldn’t say I tried to bring it back to earth a little bit, but I would be the anchor, with those parts, at least referencing them. And I did want to reference the vocals. I mean, harmonies had always been incredibly important since my first record. Because I kind of came into my own voice as a harmony singer with Gram, and so harmonies were always important, and Buddy’s voice harmony, singing along with Daryl… Daryl Johnson had this extraordinary head voice that was so beautiful, like, straight out of heaven, but strong. He could sing higher than me. He would sing the part above you while playing bass pedals with his feet… With three combinations (voice, hands and feet), he would play while singing this incredibly beautiful high harmony part, completely in tune.

And then just thinking overall about the period this represents, I think, in some ways, people think of “Wrecking Ball” as Emmylou Harris 2.0, so maybe following that line of thinking, and then the “Spyboy” album and tour is like “Wrecking Ball 2.0” in its way. But, Emmylou, you’ve said “Wrecking Ball” was something like a rocket booster for you.

Harris: Yeah. It gave me another 30 years.

Is that how it feels?

Harris: Yeah, I mean, I hadn’t thought about it, but when I was doing a Q&A for something and they asked me about “Wrecking Ball” and said, “So what did it give you?” I just thought, another 30 years, really, because I think it it is hard to sustain a career, and you can’t have all high points. Most of the time you have these high points and then you’re sort of treading water, but doing the best you can, you know? So I don’t know where I would’ve been if I hadn’t done “Wrecking Ball,” but I don’t have to think about that because I did.

You’ve said when you were on this tour, you were cognizant that maybe a few people who were fans dropped out with the “Wrecking Ball” album and that you had picked up some newer, younger faces too. So you’ve got people who’ve been with you from the beginning, like Buddy. And then you’ve got some people who maybe hopped on in the mid-‘90s and have stayed for those 30 years. So, yeah, it’s a pretty good accumulation of different kinds of fans to have, probably.

Harris: Oh yeah. I mean, you can’t please everybody, so you have to be excited about what you’re doing. I think it was Neil Young who talked about following the muse and, like he said, you’re traveling along making music and then all of a sudden what’s happening in the ditch is much more interesting, so that’s where you go. What you owe your fans, really, is to go where you are to do what you’re excited about. It doesn’t happen all the time. And you’re grateful when you say, “Well, I may never sell another record, but it’s really important that I do this.” So I felt like I had no choice but to do “Wrecking Ball.” Once it got started, I was excited about it, and then eventually it led to my putting on the writing hat and doing a little more writing later on.

Miller: And I will say, your audience did change over that first year, year and a half. I mean, it just expanded, and you took everybody with you on that journey. You know, everybody by the end of the night loved everything you were doing. They didn’t know what to think, maybe, when they saw the band on stage at the beginning of the night…

Harris: Early on, this was when Dan was in the band, I think we were playing some kind of royal theater in Glasgow, I can’t remember. And somebody yelled out, “It’s bloody heavy metal!,” and walked out. And there were other times when people said, “It’s too loud, you can’t hear the guitar anyway.” You take those chances. And it worked out, thankfully, you know.