Songs, to Emmylou Harris, are like precious gems.

“We are just the setting, polishing up that diamond and trying to show it off in the best way possible,” says this American treasure and beloved singer-songwriter-musician.

Harris has received the music industry’s highest honor, the Grammy, 12 times; been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry, and was part of one of the most celebrated musical pairings in country-rock history, touring and recording with the legendary Gram Parsons until his death in 1973.

Her “diamonds” have sparkled through the decades and she says the satisfaction derived from combining beautiful words with “beautiful playing” is what continues to motivate and drive her artistically.

“When you get it exactly right, I get so much joy from that and it doesn’t go away,” she explains. “You are just so inspired by a good song. It really is about a good song and it doesn’t hurt to have a great band and get a great groove together, but it’s all about the song.”

Turning 60 has not ebbed that inspiration.

She assures that she is still trying to expand her listening horizons and “to find the kind of music that resonates for what we know to be true at this point in our lives.”

When you get to be 60, she already is on record as saying, “it’s not like you stop living.” “In fact,” she adds, “I think you live more and do have something to say.”

“I don’t think you ever stop creating or yearning or being enthusiastic,” Harris says. “That’s a real important quality that isn’t just for youth. We do need a little extra boost maybe, but in a way the more we experience, the more we can experience.”

Performing live continues to engage Harris. “The songs just come alive. They do (come alive) just sitting there by yourself if it is a good song. But if you are able to share that, the joy of playing a good song with a great band and having an audience to share that with…”

A lot of her audience has been there with her since the very beginning, she says.

“It’s a great thing to have people not expecting you to do one thing or another and who are just happy to see what you will do,” she says. She thinks that’s what has kept her out on the road for so long.

“I’m not locked into a formula. I don’t have to do something over and over again where people expect the same thing night after night. I couldn’t do that. I’m fortunate to have been just successful enough to do what I want to do, to have that freedom,” she explains.

She has earned that freedom with wise choices, and opting for quality even at the expense of commerciality. Known for her winning collaborations, Harris recorded the landmark “Trio” album in 1987 with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. Neil Young, Mark Knopfler and Elvis Costello, among many others, seek her artistic company.

Her latest “All I Intended,” her first solo album since 2003’s “Stumble Into Grace,” includes a stellar assemblage of guests. Among them: Vince Gill, the McGarrigle sisters, old friends from the Seldom Scene and Glenn D. Hardin of her legendary Hot Band.

"I don't know if I really had a goal when I started. I knew I had to make a record," Harris explains through laughter. "I had taken a lot of time between records."

She had been on the road with Neil Young and Elvis Costello, performing with Mark Knopfler, assembling her "Songbird" boxed set of rarities and going out with Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin and Buddy Miller for their "Three Girls and a Buddy" tour.

She recorded "All I Intended to Be" in Nashville and Los Angeles between October of 2005 and March of 2008.

"I really just went in, had some songs I loved for a long time and started with that," she recalls. It was produced by Brian Ahern, Harris's ex-husband, and engineered by Donivan (CORRECT) Cowart, both of whom collaborated with her on her "Elite Hotel," "Luxury Liner" and "Blue Kentucky Girl" albums.

"I knew Brian would optimize what we had and make it a good record," she says. "I had some songs I had started with and rummaged through cassettes. I actually still have cassettes," she assures, laughing. "And there were some people I wanted to work with specifically."

She wanted it to be song specific. "I don't know if I had the focus I usually had when going into making a record," she admits. "But Brian pushed and I needed that. I was as surprised as anybody that the record made sonic and emotional sense to me."

The result, she says, became somewhat of a look back on some of the people she worked with through the years and songs she loved but had never recorded, as well as her own writing. "I didn't touch every place I've been in 30 years, but we did a pretty good job of covering a lot of it."

The artist refers to herself as "a finder of songs, a gatherer of songs." What does she look for in that search?

"I don't know what that one thing is, but it's very, very lyric oriented," she replies. One great line can do it for her. "How can you resist?" she asks. "I look for that poetry that kind of rings true for you."

Revered songwriter Harlan Howard was on to something when he described country music as "three chords and the truth," she suggests.

Harris says this CD started coming together with "Shores of White Sands," a Jack Wesley Routh composition that speaks to surviving a failed love. Harris said she was drawn to it when Warner Bros. Nashville artist Karen Brooks first recorded it in 1982. Brooks added harmony vocals on Harris' interpretation.

Harris' "Take That Ride" is a frank conversation with God. Dolly Parton sings harmony on Harris' "Gold."

She also takes on Mark Germino's "Broken Man's Lament" and Merle Haggard's "Kern River," as well as Tracy Chapman's "All that You Have Is Your Soul" and Jude Johnson's "Hold On."

"I think it is important to pick material that has a long shelf life," says Harris. That's why a song she has been singing for decades can still be fresh to her, she explains.

Why her music resonates for people is a mystery for which she is grateful, she says. "It's wonderful to find people who also seem to like the same kind of songs," she says. "They are songs that don't really grow old, but grow old with us and still (reflect) the experiences of who we are. As we get older and richer from our experiences, these songs reflect that."

"I sing a lot of sad songs too," she adds. "We experience sadness in our lives. Sad songs give credence to what we feel. They make us feel not alone."

As to what she hopes people take from her music, Harris says, "I hope they get what I get from music, and not just my music. It's almost like a part of my spiritual life." There's the music of Buddy Miller, Bruce Springsteen, Dylan, Neil Young, Mark Knopfler, Pete Seeger "and all the people from the first time I heard folk music."

It woke her up she explains, making her ask, "Why do I feel this way?"

Music is like food, almost something you can't live without, she says. "It makes us feel alive." Songs can bring words and images to life, she adds.

As for new projects in her life, Harris says she has gravitated to a virtual second career in dog rescue with Bonaparte's Retreat, a shelter rescue and foster program she established in the backyard of her Nashville home. "That's very, very important in my life. I named it after my dear departed companion who traveled with me. He was a shelter dog.”

She says she became involved in the rescue community to try to make a better world for dogs. “They touch my heart so much. They really have become incredibly important to me. I go on the road because I love it, but also to pay for dog food (she laughs).”

He was 11 when he died. Harris was so devastated by the loss that she wrote “Not Enough,” which is on the new album, to express her love for the animal. She says that her love for animals often influences her music.

Harris embraces the future with enthusiasm. “The important thing is to stay fresh and inspired by what you are doing,” she says. “Songs will do that for you…and people.”