Emily Barker profile picture

Emily Barker

Photos.Fires.Fables.

About Me

Emily Barker's debut solo album "Photos. Fires.Fables." (Everyone Sang) is a journey through 12 sharply observed songs that delicately distort the boundaries between Americana and English folk, and display her intuitive grasp of both mood and medium. The album features the earthy, acoustic acompaniment of 'The Red Clay Halo.'
The album is currently only available at gigs and online at:
www.smartchoicemusic.com

Click Here To Join Emily's Mailing List!


"the incredible voice of Emily Barker, the light, shade and effortless power of which defies and surpasses any critical superlative." Americana UK live review
"She is one of those talents that comes along once in a lifetime, if you're lucky." Maverick magazine Pickin and Grinnin review
Emily Barker is a singer-songwriter hailing from the quiet town of Bridgetown, Western Australia.
Emily first entered the UK music scene via the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2002 where she appeared with guitarist Rob Jackson (Boo Hewerdine’s guitarist). The success of this performance, lead them to form a band called the-low-country of which Emily was sole songwriter and front person. They released 2 albums, played numerous Alt-country venues and festivals, and enjoyed several plays on John Peel’s show.
In October 2005, Emily won both Country song of the year and Regional song of the year at the prestigious Annual West Australian Music Song writing Awards. This year she also toured and sang in place of Stephanie Arlene with Americana heroes ‘The Arlenes’ on their UK tour.
In 2006 Emily again appeared at the Cambridge Folk Festival, this time accompanied by The Red Clay Halo -a female trio comprising of Violin, Cello and Accordion/ Flute. She also sang a duet with Steve Adams of The Broken Family Band.
In January 2007, Emily released her debut solo album ‘Photos.Fires.Fables.’ which received numerous positive reviews in UNCUT, Q, The Word, The Times, The Independent and many more.
Off the back of this success, 2007 has seen Emily tour with Mary Gauthier and play Glastonbury Festival with The Red Clay Halo- just to mention a couple of the year's highlights.
Emily has just completed a tour of major cities in Australia opening shows for Jose Gonzalez where she performed in front of crowds of up to 2500 solo. She went down a storm!
Current News:
After the initial run of 1,000 copies of Emily's debut solo album sold out at gigs in 2007 alone, Emily releases a re-mastered version of her debut solo album ‘Photos.Fires.Fables’ in the UK this March. This album features a revised track listing, one new song and refreshed artwork and now comes to you via Emily’s own independently-managed label Everyone Sang and distributed through Proper.
To support this release, Emily and The Red Clay Halo will be touring throughout April. Please see gig listing.
Other news:
The band will be heading into 'The Granary' (a 16th-century barn studio located in Norfolk) at the end of March to record live the eagerly awaited second album. This will be made available in shops via Proper distribution in August and available to download in July.
But...they are in need of funds. So, Emily and The Red Clay Halo are hoping to do a series of house concerts so as to raise the dosh. If you would like the gals to play in your front room please contact the bookings email below or write to Emily on myspace. They will sing and play for you and your friends for a very reasonable fee indeed and in return, list your name on the album's artwork. Please don't be shy, get in touch! Thank you kindly.
Management: Phil Nicholas @ Rainbow Street Touring
Email: [email protected]
Bookings: Everyone Sang
Email: [email protected]
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My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 5/31/2005
Band Website: emily-barker.com (coming soon)
Band Members: 'The Red Clay Halo' are the musicians who have appeared on 'Photos.Fires.Fables.' and with whom she also performs. They are: Gill Sandell on bvox, accordian and flute; Jo Silverston on cello and Anna Jenkins on violin.
The new album due out at the end of summer will feature Drummer Dan See and Double bassist Tom Mason.
Influences: In no particular order apart from the first two...Neil Young, Lal Waterson, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, The Band, Josh Ritter, The Arlenes, Mary Gauthier, The Be Good Tanyas, The Waifs, Joni Mitchell, Laura Veirs, Martin Carthy, Smog, Nick Drake, Low, Martha Wainwright, Les Chauffers a Pied, Leonard Cohen, Calexico, Jolie Holland, PJ Harvey, Cat Power, Pentangle, Nina Nastasia, Johnny Cash, June Carter, Gene Clark, Odetta, Bob Dylan, The Broken Family Band, Crazy Horse, Ruth Brown, Doug Sahm, Steeleye Span, Sandy Denny, Anita Carter, Shirley Collins, Fairport Convention, Rikki Lee Jones, Bjork, Emmylou Harris, Nicolette Larson, Hank Williams, Lucinda Williams, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Incredible String Band, Townes Van Zandt, The Watersons, Cath and Phil Tyler, Oliver Knight, Aretha Franklin, Nic Jones,etc etc.
Sounds Like:"...a willowy, plaintive voice with more than a touch of Gillian Welch and Neko Case… sharply observed, original songs.” UNCUT.

"...an authentic heartache that anchors all the best country music, and places her in the same ballpark as Gillian Welch or Canada's The Be Good Tanyas ..."Q Magazine.

"Putting a painting of yourself, replete with black eye, on the cover of your debut solo outing can't fail to grab people's attention. Barker's voice could easily do that on its own mind; with echoes of Lucinda William's rasp and Martha Wainright's breathy purr.”Word.

“…this debut solo effort displays her intuitive grasp of both mood and medium…an engaging set of songs.”The Times.

"The West Australian songbird has a rare and enriching talent which shines on original songs…”The Daily Mirror.

"...a gorgeous, sincere voice that grabs you and won’t let go."The Sun.

"...this is a winning snapshot of a fledgling talent."The Information (The Independent)

“Lovely, lovely, lovely.”The ABC (The Independent Magazine)

"…a treasure of an album.”Maverick Magazine.

"...allow her glorious music to infect you with its bliss and poetry...a superb debut."RoomThirteen.

"…a terrific voice and a nice way with a world-weary lyric…A lovely little record.”TNT

Record Label: Everyone Sang
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

The Waifs tour support and fundraising...

Hello there all. Just last week I was offered support for The Waifs on their UK tour! For those of you who do not know The Waifs, they’re a roots/folk/country band from my home state Western Aus...
Posted by Emily Barker on Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:11:00 PST

April tour dates announced!

After the initial run of 1,000 copies sold out at gigs in 2007 alone, Australian singer songwriter Emily Barker releases a re-mastered version of her debut solo album 'Photos.Fires.Fables' in the UK t...
Posted by Emily Barker on Mon, 18 Feb 2008 09:19:00 PST