Plenty of singers have hits. Emmylou Harris has something more meaningful: A career.

And not just any career. From her beginnings with musical soulmate Gram Parsons to her many solo discs and collaborations with literally dozens of artists, Harris has earned a reputation as one of the most beloved and distinguished figures in country music -- a singer blessed with an angelic, crystalline voice and an uncanny ability to cut right to the emotional heart of a song.

Some of those songs -- like Love Hurts and Boulder to Birmingham -- are fairly well known. But the vast majority are not. And it's those tracks that Harris mines for her exceptional box-set anthology Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems.

As the title makes clear, the 60-year-old vocalist deliberately avoids popular cuts in favour of personal favourites and rarities from throughout her career. The first two of the four CDs compile cuts from her two dozen albums.

The latter two cherry-pick some of her many duets, guest spots and tributes. The final disc is a too-brief DVD with nine performances from 1975 - 2004.

A gorgeous 200-page hardback book chronicles her journey with a biography, pictures and track-by-track notes.

But for Emmylou fans, the real attractions are the dozen bonus cuts, which include a song from her long-lost 1969 debut; outtakes from her Trio sessions with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton; songs left off of various albums; and even a number cut as a present.

With all that, who needs hits?