The Christmas album "Light of the Stable" was released in 1979; its title track featured backing vocals by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Neil Young, all of whom Harris had worked with sporadically since the mid-1970s, and with whom she continued to collaborate through the 2000s. In the 1980s, Harris explored country music's history further with the bluegrass-oriented recording of "Roses in the Snow", featuring Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Albert Lee, Emory Gordy Jr. and Jerry Douglas. Harris's versions of the traditional "Wayfaring Stranger" and Paul Simon's "The Boxer" were strong singles.