Brian Ahern, Architect Behind Emmylou Harris and Americana, Has Died

A big loss was suffered behind the mixing board earlier this week. Producer extraordinaire Brian Ahern passed away in Minnesota on Monday, November 8th. He was 81 years old. Even if you don’t know the name, you will definitely know the many performers he collaborated with on his way to becoming one of the most beloved, revered, and accomplished producers in country music through multiple decades.

Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Don Williams, Linda Ronstadt, Roy Orbison, Glen Campbell, Marty Robbins, Ricky Skaggs, Rodney Crowell, Mark Knopfler, and more all owe at least a moment of their careers to Brian Ahern’s mastery. Yet he’s perhaps best known for being the architect behind the career of fellow Canadian Anne Murray, and later a primary character behind the rise of Emmylou Harris who he was also married to for a number of years.

Brian Ahern was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1945. It was in the capacity of the music producer for a show called Singalong Jubilee that he first met Anne Murray when she auditioned for the show in the mid 1960s, but didn’t make it. Ahern nonetheless believed she could be a world-class talent, and stayed in touch with her. When she auditioned two years later, she finally got the part and joined the cast. Murray still didn’t feel like she could become a full-time musician, but it was at Ahern’s yearning that she tried.

In 1968, Anne Murray recorded and released her debut album What About Me produced by Brian Ahern. She would go on to become one of the most popular singers in Canadian music history, a massive crossover success in the United States including winning three CMA Awards, and is regularly named as a contender for the Country Music Hall of Fame. Brian Ahern ended up producing 12 albums for Anne Murray before her retirement in 2008.

The career of Anne Murray was just the beginning for Brian Ahern. After the passing of Gram Parsons—and due to the success Ahern had with Anne Murray—he was brought on by Reprise Records specifically to work with Emmylou Harris, and make her the country star everyone knew she could be. Ahern assembled artists who’d worked with Gram Parsons previously like James Burton, and mined the songwriting catalog of Rodney Crowell who Ahern signed to a publishing deal, and he went to work.

Emmylou’s Reprise Record debut Pieces of the Sky from 1975 was a major success, and allowed Emmylou to step out of the Gram Parsons shadow. Ahern would go on to produce 11 albums from Harris, including the nine albums she released between 1975 and 1983. Ahern and Harris would also marry on January 9th, 1977, have a daughter together two years later, and eventually divorce in 1984. But their working relationship continued intermittently afterward, including Ahern producing Emmylou’s album All I Intended To Be in 2008.

It was through this accomplished work with Emmylou Harris that other country artists began seeking out the services of Brian Ahern. Now located in Los Angeles, he would produce Rodney Crowell’s Ain’t Living Long Like This in 1978, and Johnny Cash’s album Silver that included the Cash version of “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky,” which became a surprise hit for Cash in 1979.

Instead of seeking a residency at a conventional studio, Brian Ahern was the famous proprietor of what was called the Enactron Truck. It was a mobile studio built in the back of a semi trailer that could be parked virtually anywhere, and utilized to record albums and live concerts. It was famously lined with lead to block any outside radio frequencies, and unlike other mobile studios of the era like the one used by the Rolling Stones, the Enactron Truck included isolation booths.

When Ahern wasn’t using the mobile studio himself, it was in high demand. Specifically, it was used to record Barbara Streisand’s vocals for the film A Star Is Born, and Bette Midler’s vocals for the film The Rose. It recorded the audio for The Band’s The Last Waltz film, and was the studio for Willie Nelson’s landmark album Stardust. Overall, the Enactron Truck was in action for over 40 Certified Gold and Platinum records, including many in the country music realm. It’s currently on display at the Musician’s Hall of Fame in Nashville.

Ahern’s prolific nature slowed down in the ’90s, but he never ceased working. He was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006. He was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Americana Music Association by Rodney Crowell and former wife Emmylou Harris in 2010. In 2019, Ahern was formally appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada (CM).

Brian Ahern’s work with Anne Murray, and then Emmylou Harris became building blocks for American roots music in North America and beyond. A guitar player by trade, Brian Ahern was graced with the artistic vision of how to take talented individuals, and expose that talent to the masses without compromising integrity. He’s also considered one of the fathers of what today is often referred to as “Americana.”

Brian Ahern amassed 13 Grammy Awards in his career.

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