Emmylou Harris releases her new album Stumble Into Grace today.

It's similar to her previous album Red Dirt Girl in terms of style and overall strength, but one track seems to stand out, given recent events.

Strong Hand (For June) was written after Harris found out about June Carter Cash's death in May. And Johnny Cash's recent passing, Harris says, gives even more depth to the already weighty song.

"I have told people that it was almost like that song was from June," Harris says. "I have sung it a couple of times since John's death and it seems strange to think that the cycle that I was talking about in the song is complete.

"I was very grateful for it. I felt I was one of the many millions of people who felt a connection to John and June, and I was lucky enough to know them. They touched so many lives. It's a way of paying homage to one of the great true stories in my lifetime."

After the Man In Black passed away earlier this month, Harris performed with Sheryl Crow at the private memorial service, singing The Old Rugged Cross.

Harris says that although she's sung at many funerals, it's definitely not something she approaches easily.

"It's very difficult. You can't really be that detached, but at the same time you are, and there's a certain unreality," she says. "You are part of something that doesn't have anything to do with you particularly; you're trying to be in the moment. It was an experience that I was not looking forward to and yet I was honoured to be part of what was pretty much a private ceremony."

As for her new album, Harris says originally it was going to be a collaboration among Kate and Anna McGarrigle and her, but the process led to the three of them writing two songs for the album -- Little Bird and I Will Dream. The McGarrigles, along with Jane Siberry, are guests on the album.

Harris, who had co-written all of the songs for Red Dirt Girl, wrote five of the 11 songs on Stumble Into Grace by herself, including the opening Here I Am and Lost Unto This World. She says she isn't writing constantly, but feels using her own material with cover versions gives her another asset.

Harris is one of those artists who seems to be treasured by her musical peers. Days before she started her recent opening slot for Neil Young's North American tour, Bruce Springsteen asked her to join him onstage. She says she considers both to be heroes of hers.

"They are people that I look to for a source of inspiration," she says. "I jumped at the chance to open for Neil, so I can 'put that on my resume'."

Another addition to her "resume" is curator for a series of October concerts at Carnegie Hall, which will feature Steve Earle, the McGarrigle sisters, Patty Griffin and others. In the meantime she'll continue touring North America and Europe until December.

She also says that Gram Parsons, the late singer she performed with early in her career, would love a lot of the "alt.country" acts today.

But radio stations are another story. "Country radio is a bit of a mystery for a lot of us who wonder where country went with all this crossover," she says. "All the popularity with music which, for me, doesn't have staying power. But as long as there is good music out there, people will find it."