The Sit Down with Emily Nenni
Emily Nenni, like many people within the music industry who call Nashville home is a transplant who has been in Music City for a decade and feels that the last ten years had flown by yet she has “learnt so much and feels like I’ve accomplished a lot but there is still so much more to learn and do.” Her own story begins on the west coast and the bay area of San Francisco as she explains “I was born in San Jose and raised in the east bay near Berkeley and Oakland, the majority of my family still lives there” and it was being a “huge music nerd” as she describes herself as what initially drew her to Nashville after studying Audio Engineering in Chicago. “Chicago just wasn’t the right fit for me, I think I was eighteen. When I came to Nashville, it felt a little homelier, everybody was very warm and welcoming but I really wanted to see live music all the time and study it. By the time that I moved here I was freshly twenty one so I could get into the bars which was good, I just wanted to be surrounded by music and likeminded people who wanted to live and breathe music just like me.”
Amongst the bright lights of Music City and one of the most iconic bar cultures on the entire planet, there were two places in particular that became her watering holes of choice when she initially came to town. “Robert’s (Western World) has been around forever and they are one of the few bars on Broadway that still allows pedal steel, which I think is crazy that other bars don’t. Everybody just really appreciates the history of country music there and I just became such good friends with the staff there.” Emily elaborated saying how it was a place where she liked to hang with a PBR listening to music as she didn’t know anyone when she first moved to town then how “the majority of the folks who would go to that bar to listen to the music and two-step which was great.” The second venue which we talked about (and is also a personal favourite hang of mine when I’m in Nashville) is a way off Broadway, close to The Fairgrounds and the now home of Nashville SC; “Santa’s (Pub) was very similar, it was just people who wanted to sit and enjoy live music but it was people closer to my age.” which allowed her to learn and grow together with people around her age.
The main reason for our conversation was regarding her upcoming European tour on which she said “I cannot wait! I’m so excited, it’s been a long time coming.” and will be her first time across the pond to play shows with her only previous visit this side of the Atlantic being for a wedding in Italy. The tour contains shows in Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands along with ten dates in the UK that begins at The Camden Assembly in London. As we had talked about some of Nashville’s influential venues, I had also touched on how Camden has a rich musical history of it’s own which was synonymous with the career of Amy Winehouse, Madness, Oasis, the formation of Coldplay and also The Libertines who are featured in the new Disney+ documentary playing at Barfly which was the previous name of the venue where Emily would make her own London debut. This led Emily bringing up her “British invasion” phase in her early teens as she discovered the music of The Beatles and The Kinks before finding a love for bands like Artic Monkeys to develop an overall appreciation of great music coming from the United Kingdom.
In regard to her own artistry, if I was to go down the attention drawing “FOR FANS OF” style introduction, Nenni is quite straightforward because I would be bringing up acts that she has toured or worked with such as 49 Winchester, Flatland Cavalry, Jaime Wyatt and Charley Crockett who have all began to rapidly develop UK fanbases of their own. This classic country sound with a taste of Californian flair that brings inspiration ranging from girl groups of the 1960’s to outlaw country of the 1970’s is wonderfully introduced by her latest record ‘Drive & Cry’ (out now via New West Records and is available on APPLE or SPOTIFY) which was released last month and drops the listener smack in the middle of her boisterous and bustling Nashville world.
Amongst the bright lights of Music City and one of the most iconic bar cultures on the entire planet, there were two places in particular that became her watering holes of choice when she initially came to town. “Robert’s (Western World) has been around forever and they are one of the few bars on Broadway that still allows pedal steel, which I think is crazy that other bars don’t. Everybody just really appreciates the history of country music there and I just became such good friends with the staff there.” Emily elaborated saying how it was a place where she liked to hang with a PBR listening to music as she didn’t know anyone when she first moved to town then how “the majority of the folks who would go to that bar to listen to the music and two-step which was great.” The second venue which we talked about (and is also a personal favourite hang of mine when I’m in Nashville) is a way off Broadway, close to The Fairgrounds and the now home of Nashville SC; “Santa’s (Pub) was very similar, it was just people who wanted to sit and enjoy live music but it was people closer to my age.” which allowed her to learn and grow together with people around her age.
The main reason for our conversation was regarding her upcoming European tour on which she said “I cannot wait! I’m so excited, it’s been a long time coming.” and will be her first time across the pond to play shows with her only previous visit this side of the Atlantic being for a wedding in Italy. The tour contains shows in Sweden, France, Germany and the Netherlands along with ten dates in the UK that begins at The Camden Assembly in London. As we had talked about some of Nashville’s influential venues, I had also touched on how Camden has a rich musical history of it’s own which was synonymous with the career of Amy Winehouse, Madness, Oasis, the formation of Coldplay and also The Libertines who are featured in the new Disney+ documentary playing at Barfly which was the previous name of the venue where Emily would make her own London debut. This led Emily bringing up her “British invasion” phase in her early teens as she discovered the music of The Beatles and The Kinks before finding a love for bands like Artic Monkeys to develop an overall appreciation of great music coming from the United Kingdom.
In regard to her own artistry, if I was to go down the attention drawing “FOR FANS OF” style introduction, Nenni is quite straightforward because I would be bringing up acts that she has toured or worked with such as 49 Winchester, Flatland Cavalry, Jaime Wyatt and Charley Crockett who have all began to rapidly develop UK fanbases of their own. This classic country sound with a taste of Californian flair that brings inspiration ranging from girl groups of the 1960’s to outlaw country of the 1970’s is wonderfully introduced by her latest record ‘Drive & Cry’ (out now via New West Records and is available on APPLE or SPOTIFY) which was released last month and drops the listener smack in the middle of her boisterous and bustling Nashville world.
The new twelve track record, which Nenni wrote eleven of the twelve songs herself, arrived eighteen months after the release of her previous record ‘On The Ranch’ which had been recorded in January 2021 and she was shopping until released as it was with New West in November 2022. The fact that New West liked ‘On The Ranch’ as it was, amounted to one of the first signs that she realised they were the perfect fit for her to be looking to release music with. She elaborated on how “They didn’t want to change anything about the record or about me. Initially I had a real crappy album cover and they said you can keep that or if you want to get professional photos taken and work with a designer we can do that, which I thought that would be great. I really think of them all like family, they are just a great group of folks, so easy to communicate with and they truly care about me as a person, a musician and they work as hard as I do. I feel very lucky that it kind of happened and I get to work with them.”
Around a month after the release of ‘On The Ranch’, her new label gave her to go ahead to start writing her next record which would become ‘Drive & Cry’ as soon as she was ready, which she took the attitude of ok and “I think it was January and February of last year (2023) where my backing band were on the road for their own tour and I just had time to sit and think on the last year and a half.” These two months led to the creation of the majority of the songs for the album with ‘Lay of the Land’ being the outlier of the eleven original tracks as was not written in this period and had been in her catalogue for around seven or eight years. “I have a lot of feelings and I’ve experienced a lot in my first thirty years so I always have plenty to write about but that surprisingly happened pretty quick.”
The final finished version of ‘Drive & Cry’ was produced by John James Tourville of renowned Louisiana formed Americana band The Deslondes who whilst knowing the band for a number of years was the one who in her own words had “never really chatted with”. “The collaboration came together when “I don’t know, we kind of got to chatting when I was opening for The Deslondes in Georgia back in maybe January of 2022 or February and I had a good feeling. He has a couple of kids, a nice wife and they live in Asheville so he just felt like the good guy and one that I could easily chat with or bounce ideas of off.” The sound of the record is, if you are new to the music of Emily Nenni something that immediately makes you question why am I so late to this but more importantly I want to hear this live which we are very much excided about when her first UK tour rolls around in August.
Around a month after the release of ‘On The Ranch’, her new label gave her to go ahead to start writing her next record which would become ‘Drive & Cry’ as soon as she was ready, which she took the attitude of ok and “I think it was January and February of last year (2023) where my backing band were on the road for their own tour and I just had time to sit and think on the last year and a half.” These two months led to the creation of the majority of the songs for the album with ‘Lay of the Land’ being the outlier of the eleven original tracks as was not written in this period and had been in her catalogue for around seven or eight years. “I have a lot of feelings and I’ve experienced a lot in my first thirty years so I always have plenty to write about but that surprisingly happened pretty quick.”
The final finished version of ‘Drive & Cry’ was produced by John James Tourville of renowned Louisiana formed Americana band The Deslondes who whilst knowing the band for a number of years was the one who in her own words had “never really chatted with”. “The collaboration came together when “I don’t know, we kind of got to chatting when I was opening for The Deslondes in Georgia back in maybe January of 2022 or February and I had a good feeling. He has a couple of kids, a nice wife and they live in Asheville so he just felt like the good guy and one that I could easily chat with or bounce ideas of off.” The sound of the record is, if you are new to the music of Emily Nenni something that immediately makes you question why am I so late to this but more importantly I want to hear this live which we are very much excided about when her first UK tour rolls around in August.
Credit - Alysse Gafkjen
Emily Nenni UK Dates
27.8.24 - London - Camden Assembly
28.8.24 - Birkenhead - Future Yard
29.8.24 - Nottingham - Annie's Burger Shack
30.8.24 - Oxford - The Bullington
31.8.24 - Southampton - The Joiners
1.9.24 - Manchester - The Deaf Institute
2.9.24 - Cardiff - Clwb Ilfor Bach
3.9.24 - Chester - Live Room
4.9.24 - Newcastle - The Cluny
5.9.24 - Glasgow - Audio
The new album “Drive & Cry” from Emily Nenni is out now via New West Records and is available on APPLE or SPOTIFY. Her upcoming UK tour kicks off at London’s Camden Assembly on 27th August with all dates shown above and ticket information available on her WEBSITE.
You can keep up to date with what Emily is up to in the meantime by following along with her on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
27.8.24 - London - Camden Assembly
28.8.24 - Birkenhead - Future Yard
29.8.24 - Nottingham - Annie's Burger Shack
30.8.24 - Oxford - The Bullington
31.8.24 - Southampton - The Joiners
1.9.24 - Manchester - The Deaf Institute
2.9.24 - Cardiff - Clwb Ilfor Bach
3.9.24 - Chester - Live Room
4.9.24 - Newcastle - The Cluny
5.9.24 - Glasgow - Audio
The new album “Drive & Cry” from Emily Nenni is out now via New West Records and is available on APPLE or SPOTIFY. Her upcoming UK tour kicks off at London’s Camden Assembly on 27th August with all dates shown above and ticket information available on her WEBSITE.
You can keep up to date with what Emily is up to in the meantime by following along with her on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
