With her new album Sweet Kind Of Blue due this Spring (May 19th), listen below to songwriter Emily Barker’s second single ‘Sunrise’ off her new record. The track epitomises Emily’s new sound which has that unique Memphis sound stamped through it like a stick of rock.
Emily Barker explains the background to Sunrise
“Sunrise” was the last song we recorded during our four days of tracking with the band at Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis. We’d managed to record nine others in the space of just a few days, and we’d all, in this short amount of time, become very close. It’s a magical thing to experience; the rapid transition from strangers to life-long friends.
We all felt a beautiful synergy in our collaboration, and despite it being a “long” few days, we were reluctant to let go. So we held on. In fact, the original version of this track is 8 minutes long. We spontaneously broke into a Memphis jam that lasted about four minutes (the length of the song itself), with Dave Cousar and Rick Steff riffing off each other, teasing out the edgiest, most angular notes, spurring each other on; then Steve Potts and Dave Smith steering us through dynamic changes – the two of them always seemingly able to read each other’s next move and converse with bass runs and drum fills to lift or drop the song in unison and guide us all; and me bouncing around in the vocal booth blowing into my blues harp in-between smiles and almost levitating with joy at being immersed in such a groove and such a vibe. The whole jam happened on one chord, D major and it was incredible to me to learn how many possibilities can exist in just one chord! When we eventually finished I remember Matt Ross-Spang saying, “Well I think we all know that’s the one!” and Rick Steff saying, “I gotta stop, I can’t play anymore D’s right now”. We all laughed. It was the perfect way to round up an incredible four days.
I wrote this song when I was on a road trip through Sweden. I was sleeping in my car and doing what I call a “slow-tour”, when you have equal part holiday and shows. It was the peak of summer and the light was gorgeous; long-lasting and gentle. There’s so much water there, so many lakes and beautiful beaches. You feel like you’re on the edge of the world when you’re that far north. It’s a song about escaping and it seemed very fitting to record it in the USA with the national theme of the road-trip being such a feature in literature, music and popular culture throughout American history.
Emily is a UK-based Australian native who’s spent much of her time over the past year between Nashville and Memphis writing, recording and touring. Her new album Sweet Kind Of Blue was recorded at Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis with Grammy-award winning producer Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, Jason Isbell) alongside various members of Memphis ‘music royalty’ as her backing band. More information on the record will be coming soon.
Sweet Kind of Blue is out on May 19th via Everyone Sang
Order it via Amazon
www.emilybarker.com
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