The McGarrigle Sisters & Emmylou Harris "Green Green Rocky Road"

Barnes Newberry played this song on a recent episode of My Back Pages," and hearing it took me right back to one of my many awkward fan moments.

I was at the Ryman in Nashville, Tennessee, and I had paid a little extra in my ticket to a Anti-Death Penalty benefit show, so I could go to a post show Meet & Greet with the artists.

Not only had a met Sister Helen Prejean, the nun who wrote "Dead Man Walking" (portrayed in the film by Susan Sarandon), but I had already met Steve Earle.

Indigo Girls and Jackson Browne were also signing autographs, but it was Emmylou Harris that I really wanted to meet.

We were in a backstage area where there were a good 100 or so fans, surrounding each artist, who were each milling about the room, not unlike how Goofy and Donald and Pluto work a crowd at Disneyworld.

I had been in the right place at the right time when Emmylou appeared, and though she was quickly surrounded by the crowd, I was right up front. Unfortunately, I was just to her left, and she started signing autographs, slowing turning to her right, away from me.

And as she turned, this enormous, rock solid Ryman security staffer stayed stuck to her left shoulder. As she turned, he turned, edging me out.

Like a man looking down from a mountain, he cast his eyes down at my somewhat pitiful, squeezed-out fandom and said, softly, "Sorry, Dude."

So I waited, with a lot of time to think.

What should I say to Emmylou Harris?

I was a huge fan. Maybe not her "number one fan" on the planet. But I had seen her in concert the previous summer, and was just knocked out. I had enormous respect for her work, and was sincere in my devotion.

I didn't want to be one of those weird autograph seekers, who just want the paper. They may not even be real fans.

No, I had to say something that let her know I wasn't just a casual fan.

But it also couldn't suggested that I was a psycho fan either. I didn't want to sound rabid or obsessed.

I settled on "Green Green Rocky Road."

The McGarrigle Sisters had put out a CD in the recent past, on which Emmylou guest appeared. And this was one of the songs she sang on.

I figured, if I mentioned this project, it suggested that I was a serious music fan, and was well-aware of things she was working on. But it was recent enough that it wasn't some piece of obscure minutiae.

Confident in my choice, I watched her patiently, politely, generously, give each fan a few moments, and then graciously, gracefully move to the next. Say what you will about Country Music, there is no other genre who's stars are nicer to their fans.

She had almost fully circled around at this point. The crowd had dissipated. It was only Emmylou, the security rock, a few more autograph seeker, and me.

My turn.

I handed her my concert stub to sign and said, "I loved that version of 'Green Green Rocky Road' that you did with the McGarrigle Sisters."

And then she did something unexpected.

She looked up, brightened, and said "Aren't they wonderful!" and as she did this, she reached out to touch my hand.

And I then also did something unexpected.

My knees buckled.

It was just a split-second, but I was, apparently, so overcome in my fandom over the fact that Emmylou Harris was about to touch me, that I lost my balance.

And in that split-second, she pulled her hand back, gave me a flash of a look that said, "What's wrong with this guy," regained her poise, smiled and moved on.

So much for not looking like a crazy fan . . .

Check out the track at Grooveshark.

Hear Emmylou, live this weekend during our coverage of Newport Folk, and check out her album tonight as we play it in its entirety for our Album Of The Week.