Emily Reid is, in her own words, “a country/folk artist, story teller, songwriter, West Coast meets Nashville meets city girl.” Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, raised in Victoria, British Columbia, attended university in Nashville and now living in Toronto, Ontario, Emily has a huge host of influences that perfectly meld themselves into delicate but earnest storytelling with a voice that is absolutely unshakeable (although she does sing in ‘The River’, “it doesn’t matter where you’re born, it doesn’t matter where you’re raised”). If Miranda Lambert and Dolly Parton had a baby with some genetic additions of Lindi Ortega and Miley Cyrus, that would somewhat accurately describe her vocal chops, hypnotic, beautiful but also startlingly distinctive, while her sound is more reminiscent of Miranda’s rootsier leanings, sitting firmly within an Americana context.
As a result, Emily’s self-confessed musical influences begin to make some sense. “I grew up listening to a lot of James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Young, Annie Lennox and Fleetwood Mac,” she explains. “My parents were amazing music consumers, and always had something playing. In my more developmental years I listened to a lot of the Dixie Chicks and Ingrid Michaelson. I’ve been most recently influenced by Kacey Musgraves, and Emily West.” Her new EP, the 3-song release appropriately titled ‘Drifter’, is intriguing, well-written, and fantastically produced. Earthy, soulful, thoughtful, musically varied yet also distinctly catchy, it is the first time in a long time I’ve genuinely been really excited about an independent artist.
She’s also gaining some heat in the industry. In 2010, the then-19-year-old released her self-titled debut album, which broke the Top 200 on the AMA Charts in the US. She toured extensively between writing and recording, and found herself performing at the Billboard TV and Film Awards in 2012, and at SXSW, Canadian Music Fest, and the Nashville Film Awards in 2013. Emily’s songwriting ability got folks within the industry sitting up and taking notice. While in Nashville she caught the attention of an executive with Disney. In no time she was put in contact with Disney Channel programming and began composing music for the entertainment conglomerate, for the hit show Austin and Ally.
In regards ‘Be Your Last’, the first song on ‘Drifter’, Emily says, “[it’s] about my experience being a Canadian in the South, falling in love, and realizing how different the culture and perspective is. The theme of the song is that it’s better to be the last, as in there’s no one else, rather than be the first- because that’s only the beginning!” Her unique life experiences continue to inspire her to make individual music that similarly deals with universal problems, such as in ‘Ain’t Nothing To It’. “[That song] was inspired by my leaving from Nashville to Toronto, and being in a relationship at the time,” Emily notes. “Essentially, it was about how I thought that no matter the distance, the problems, or pages of life, as long as you had love and each other- you’d make it.” In the last song, too, a piece called ‘The River’, her ideas are far deeper and more introspective than most others’, “’The River’ is a human anthem about our one-ness,” Emily reveals. “I wrote it when I was 19, and I woke up in the middle of the night with the idea, and penned it out in 15 minutes. It’s still one of my favorite songs I’ve written to this day!”
It is hard to believe that she is still just 22 years old. When discussing the songwriting process, she muses, “Songwriting by yourself, or even co-writing, has to be one of the most interesting processes and experiences out there. It’s essentially you in a room with an instrument and a blank piece of paper, and it’s up to you to find inspiration and create something new and original. When writing new material, I’m often so inspired by something- be it a new experience, a friends experience, a great book, LIFE- that I feel overwhelmed with creative energy.” Emily Reid is surely an artist to get on board with, and with a new album and tour coming this year, now is a great time to do it.
