Brian Ahern, producer behind Anne Murray and Emmylou Harris, dies at 81

By Elena Vasquez

Brian Ahern, the soft-spoken Halifax guitarist and producer behind Anne Murray’s “Snowbird” and Emmylou Harris’ “Elite Hotel,” died on November 9 at age 81. He died at a care home in Minnesota. Ahern was born in 1945 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He played guitar professionally by the early 1960s.

Ahern produced 12 albums for Murray and every Warner Bros. and Reprise album Harris released through 1983’s ‘White Shoes.’ More than 40 gold and platinum records owe part of their sound to his Enactron Truck, a pioneering mobile recording studio. His work helped define modern country and Americana on both sides of the border. His reputation rested on trusting the instincts of the singers he worked with.

What turned a rejected audition into a Capitol Records contract?

Ahern served as musical director of ‘Singalong Jubilee,’ the CBC television program that showcased young East Coast talent. He met Murray there when she came from Springhill. She missed the cut on her first audition, but Ahern believed in her.

In 1968, he produced a $2,500 demo that won her a Capitol Records contract. He then produced ‘What About Me,’ her debut, and ‘This Way Is My Way,’ the album that made her an international star. “Snowbird” featured on that record.

Over the following years, Ahern produced 12 albums for Murray. They included her duet album with Glen Campbell, ‘Love Song’ and ‘Country.’ Ahern earned four Juno Awards along the way. Anne Murray said: “We kind of cut our teeth and grew up in the music business together,” describing a partnership that began at Singalong Jubilee.

Takeaway: Ahern’s $2,500 demo turned a rejected audition into a Capitol contract and 12 albums.

How did Ahern and Harris begin their partnership?

In 1974, fellow Canadian Mary Martin signed Harris to Warner Bros. and suggested she meet Ahern. Their first meeting started badly. Harris rejected every song he played. Ahern then pulled out a demo by Rodney Crowell, an unknown Texas songwriter.

A member of Anne Murray’s band had given him the tape, and Harris loved it, beginning a partnership that ran from her 1975 Reprise debut to 1983’s ‘White Shoes.’ Ahern signed Crowell to his publishing company. For Harris’s 1975 Reprise debut, ‘Pieces of the Sky,’ he assembled musicians from Gram Parsons’s solo albums: James Burton, Glen D. Hardin and Ron Tutt.

Takeaway: One Crowell tape ended a bad first meeting and supplied the musicians for Harris’s Reprise debut.

What did Ahern produce for Emmylou Harris?

Ahern produced all of Harris’s Warner Bros. and Reprise albums through 1983’s ‘White Shoes.’ Two reached No. 1 on the country chart: ‘Elite Hotel’ and ‘Luxury Liner.’ His run also included ‘Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town’ and the bluegrass-inspired ‘Roses in the Snow.’ Johnny Cash sang backing vocals on ‘Roses in the Snow.’ Ahern played an array of guitars.

Harris recorded five Crowell songs across Ahern’s productions:

• “Till I Gain Control Again”
• “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight”
• “Ashes by Now”
• “You’re Supposed to Be Feeling Good”
• “I Don’t Have to Crawl”

He also produced Harris’s duet with Roy Orbison, “That Lovin’ You Feelin’ Again,” a record that earned the singer his first Grammy and moved Orbison to call Ahern in tears. The pair reunited decades later for Harris’s 2008 album ‘All I Intended to Be.’

Takeaway: Ahern’s Harris catalogue combined two country No. 1 albums with bluegrass and five Crowell songs.

How did his personal life intersect with his work?

On January 9, 1977, Ahern and Harris married at his home in Halifax. They had a daughter in 1979. Their marriage ended in 1984. Their musical bond continued.

In 2010, the Americana Music Association gave Ahern its Lifetime Achievement Award for Producer/Engineer at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, where Harris and Rodney Crowell presented it. Harris has called him a truly brilliant producer who believes in the instincts of artists.

Takeaway: Their marriage ended in 1984, but Harris and Crowell presented Ahern with his 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award.

What else did Ahern record for other artists?

Ahern built the Enactron Truck as a pioneering mobile recording studio, and it played a role in more than 40 gold and platinum records. That tally included Bette Midler’s ‘The Rose’ and Barbra Streisand’s ‘A Star Is Born.’

In Los Angeles, Ahern also produced:

• Rodney Crowell’s debut album, ‘Ain’t Living Long Like This’
• Johnny Cash’s ‘Silver,’ including its hit version of “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky”
• Two albums by Mary Kay Place

His recordings also included work with:

• Willie Nelson
• George Jones
• Don Williams
• Jesse Winchester
• Linda Ronstadt
• Ricky Skaggs
• Marty Robbins

Takeaway: The Enactron and a broad session roster carried Ahern’s methods well beyond his two best-known partnerships.

Which honours followed his career?

In 2006, Ahern was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in Saint John, New Brunswick. In 2019, Governor General Julie Payette appointed him a Member of the Order of Canada.

Takeaway: Future listeners will measure Ahern’s legacy through 12 Murray albums, a Harris run through 1983 and more than 40 gold and platinum records.