Kylie Rae Harris, a young country singer-songwriter from Texas, was killed in a tragic car accident in Taos, New Mexico on Wednesday night (Sept. 4). She’d been in town to play Michael Hearne’s 17th Annual Big Barn Dance Music Festival at Kit Carson Park there on Thursday. She was just 30 years old, and leaves behind a 6-year-old daughter.
Texas country treasure Radney Foster had taken Harris under his wing years ago, and he shared the heart-breaking news on his Facebook page.
“It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that last night we lost Kylie Rae Harris. She was my background vocalist, my band mate at times, hired gun in the studio, and a hell of good young songwriter. Soul and joy ached out of her voice every time she sang. She was full of life and love,” Foster wrote. “Mostly I thought of her as my friend. I loved her.
“The world is a little more diminished. Heaven’s choir is much stronger,” he added. “This is not a great image but it is her walking in the rain because she wanted to see the sunset. That says it all. Godspeed, Kylie Rae.”
Harris had posted about her Taos show on Instagram, saying, “Magical times with wonderful people await!”