35 f Prime Of Ms. Smith
Dumfries & Galloway’s top export has just made her finest album. Tim Chipping gets to grips with the tale.
F
or the musically dependent there are two big hits we’re chasing. The thrill of the new, which quickly passes. And the rush of excitement when a familiar artist takes a leap into the unknown and lands with both feet on fresh ground. Having been a fan of Emily Smith since the start of her career, I’d have happily continued buying her albums of sweetly sung traditional songs and wistful original writing for as long as she continued along that path.
But Echoes, Emily Smith’s fifth solo release, is an enormous step up. And yes I know we were using a leaping metaphor earlier. Perhaps she leapt up a step, I don’t know. While still as Scottish as toffee and rain, Emily’s adoption into the Trans - atlantic Sessions family seems to have broadened her horizons and lengthened the credits in the CD booklet. Jerry Dou- glas, Aoife O'Donovan and Natalie Haas join Kris Drever, Tim Edey and her regular band of Matheu Watson, Ross Hamilton, Signy Jakobsdottir and husband Jamie McClennan on some of the finest record- ings of her career. This is the sound of Dumfriesshire with a postcard from Nashville in its pocket.
“I’ve always thought with each album that it was the best one I’ve done but with this one it feels like everyone agrees,” says Emily cautiously. “It’s exciting hearing what everyone thinks about it. And play- ing with the live band we have now, it feels easy like it’s never felt before.”
Hold up. Since Emily Smith has never been interviewed in these pages before, a potted biography is required.
Growing up in a part of Dumfries and Galloway where almost no one she knew played music of any description, Emily quite remarkably became a champion accordeon player at the National Mod. But it was while studying for a degree in Scots Song at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama that the idea of this as a career occurred.
“In my second year of college a group of us thought it seemed like a good thing to enter the BBC Radio Scotland Young Tra- ditional Musician Awards. But I’m not a competitive person; even at board games I don’t care if I win or lose. I had entered accordeon competitions where you have to go onto the stage and the adjudicator would ring a little bell and you were sup- posed to play this perfect march, strathspey and reel. And usually by the reel I had com- pletely fallen to bits with nerves. So why I contemplated entering another competi- tion on a much larger scale I’ve no idea.”
“When I found out I’d won I burst into tears. And I think that probably surfaced how much it meant to me in that moment. And that was the start of me thinking, ‘Maybe I have found a little talent here I could turn into a profession.’”
Albums followed. A Day Like Today in 2002 (featuring a baby-faced Ross Ainslie on pipes and whistles), A Different Life in 2004, Too Long Away in 2008, a duo album of Robert Burns songs with the aforemen- tioned husband in 2009, and Traiveller’s Joy in 2011. There were regular stints on telly, tours overseas, awards… From an outside perspective Emily’s career seems to have gone extremely and easily well.
“Well it’s not gone badly. And I’m
quite happy. I just wish we’d gotten to where we are a bit quicker. It started off really well. And I had all those opportuni- ties from winning the Young Trad Awards. But not a whole lot of guidance on how to make the most of it.”
“When I first left college thinking I was going to do this full time it really was a total step in the dark. But I always think things happen for a reason. And it was the same year I met Jamie, and he’s been with me since the start. So it’s not only the music and experiences, but having him with me has shaped me into the person I am now.”
“Over ten years on we’ve learnt a lot
together. And I’m far more confident now; happier in my own skin. When I first start- ed performing professionally I think I was maybe holding on too much to what other
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