Emily King: Ever After Tour

160 Plochmann Lane,Woodstock NY 12498

30 August, 2021

Description

Emily King: Ever After Tour Presented by Levon Helm Studios ALL AGES Emily King Emily King performs at Levon Helm Studios on Monday, August 30, 2021. Gates 5:30 / Doors 6:30 / Show 7:00 Emily King It's been said: if you want to change your mind state, change your scenery first. For Emily King, the pop-soul singer from New York City who spent her first three decades living on the same downtown block, that notion was always easier said than done. A proud New Yorker, she loved her home, her family, her friends, and her life there. But a year ago, when she finally resolved to challenge herself by moving out of her comfort zone, positive changes started taking shape immediately. In Upstate New York, the fresh air and fresh mentality gave her the proper space and perspective to create what would become the album of her career. Its name: Scenery. After over ten years as a professional musician, time that included a major label release of her debut LP and a Grammy nomination for it, a critically acclaimed and self-released follow-up— which carried with it a certified smash in the song “Distance,” with more than 13 million streams —world tours supporting artists like Alabama Shakes, Sara Bareilles, Maroon 5, and John Legend, and several major late night TV stops, King suddenly found herself anxious and slightly depressed. Her previous album, 2015’s The Switch, had been recorded with her longtime producing and writing partner Jeremy Most in their Manhattan apartments, but King was having a hard time envisioning another successful song-making scenario in the city. “There was nothing exciting me there anymore,” she says. “I’d see tourists wide-eyed and excited about the sights, but I had seen them for 33 years. Every street is a memory for me, so it’s hard to draw a new memory out of them. I felt like I was on a hamster wheel. I needed a place to record, and I knew I had to get out.” For King, an escape was long overdue, and it was something she realized had been in her music for some time, as she rediscovered the theme in a lyric on The Switch. “There was a line in the song “Already There” that goes, ‘There must be a better way to escape my scenery,’” King says. “It was about freedom, because I was starting to feel trapped in the city and I was trying to move myself in my imagination. Being up here in my new place, it’s the manifestation of all those days spent wanting to run away. We found that line and just thought, ‘Scenery,’ that’s what it’s all about!’ Not every song on this record is directly related to that concept but they were all a result of making the decision to come up here.” “Up here” is her new home located upstate in Catskills, New York, a cozy spot surrounded by nature with a separate garage she and Most converted into a studio upon her arrival in the fall of 2017. While the newfound seclusion offered much in terms of creating, country life also presented a new set of life skills for King to master, not the least daunting of which was her being forced to learn to drive a car. But in true Emily King fashion, she quickly turned that fearsome situation into yet another win for her writing. “Learning to drive was big for me; being the person who didn’t drive had always been a huge part of my identity,” she says. “It felt wrong at first but now I love driving down the country roads. There’s a certain kind of music—Tom Petty, Tina Turner—that goes really well with that forward motion, and I wanted to write songs for the car like that. I got really into classic rock and I wanted more rock influence in my music. Tina Turner was this great combination of R & B and rock with a sense of urgency in her voice that I wanted to replicate for this record.” Inspired, King and Most soon began the writing and recording process in the garage, nestled in among the crickets and the Catskills. The privacy of the countryside meant that King no longer had to tiptoe during her creative process, as there was no one within earshot to wake up. For the first time in her career, she could truly do whatever she pleased. Typically beginning a new song with bare percussion, guitar lines, or sometimes a raw vocal, King self-edits until it arrives at a point worthy of sharing with Most, who then fleshes the demo out by adding instruments and programming while building the tune into something bigger. King admits that she often is surprised by the direction a song ends up heading but relishes that morphing and the surprise that comes with their collaborations. “Jeremy was a big part of this journey,” she says. “We’ve had this chemistry since the beginning. His no-bullshit filter is concentrated to the max. It’s so good to have that painfully honest voice in the room.” Emily King It's been said: if you want to change your mind state, change your scenery first. For Emily King, the pop-soul singer from New York City who spent her first three decades living on the same downtown block, that notion was always easier said than done. A proud New Yorker, she loved her home, her family, her friends, and her life there. But a year ago, when she finally resolved to challenge herself by moving out of her comfort zone, positive changes started taking shape immediately. In Upstate New York, the fresh air and fresh mentality gave her the proper space and perspective to create what would become the album of her career. Its name: Scenery. After over ten years as a professional musician, time that included a major label release of her debut LP and a Grammy nomination for it, a critically acclaimed and self-released follow-up— which carried with it a certified smash in the song “Distance,” with more than 13 million streams —world tours supporting artists like Alabama Shakes, Sara Bareilles, Maroon 5, and John Legend, and several major late night TV stops, King suddenly found herself anxious and slightly depressed. Her previous album, 2015’s The Switch, had been recorded with her longtime producing and writing partner Jeremy Most in their Manhattan apartments, but King was having a hard time envisioning another successful song-making scenario in the city. “There was nothing exciting me there anymore,” she says. “I’d see tourists wide-eyed and excited about the sights, but I had seen them for 33 years. Every street is a memory for me, so it’s hard to draw a new memory out of them. I felt like I was on a hamster wheel. I needed a place to record, and I knew I had to get out.” For King, an escape was long overdue, and it was something she realized had been in her music for some time, as she rediscovered the theme in a lyric on The Switch. “There was a line in the song “Already There” that goes, ‘There must be a better way to escape my scenery,’” King says. “It was about freedom, because I was starting to feel trapped in the city and I was trying to move myself in my imagination. Being up here in my new place, it’s the manifestation of all those days spent wanting to run away. We found that line and just thought, ‘Scenery,’ that’s what it’s all about!’ Not every song on this record is directly related to that concept but they were all a result of making the decision to come up here.” “Up here” is her new home located upstate in Catskills, New York, a cozy spot surrounded by nature with a separate garage she and Most converted into a studio upon her arrival in the fall of 2017. While the newfound seclusion offered much in terms of creating, country life also presented a new set of life skills for King to master, not the least daunting of which was her being forced to learn to drive a car. But in true Emily King fashion, she quickly turned that fearsome situation into yet another win for her writing. “Learning to drive was big for me; being the person who didn’t drive had always been a huge part of my identity,” she says. “It felt wrong at first but now I love driving down the country roads. There’s a certain kind of music—Tom Petty, Tina Turner—that goes really well with that forward motion, and I wanted to write songs for the car like that. I got really into classic rock and I wanted more rock influence in my music. Tina Turner was this great combination of R & B and rock with a sense of urgency in her voice that I wanted to replicate for this record.” Inspired, King and Most soon began the writing and recording process in the garage, nestled in among the crickets and the Catskills. The privacy of the countryside meant that King no longer had to tiptoe during her creative process, as there was no one within earshot to wake up. For the first time in her career, she could truly do whatever she pleased. Typically beginning a new song with bare percussion, guitar lines, or sometimes a raw vocal, King self-edits until it arrives at a point worthy of sharing with Most, who then fleshes the demo out by adding instruments and programming while building the tune into something bigger. King admits that she often is surprised by the direction a song ends up heading but relishes that morphing and the surprise that comes with their collaborations. “Jeremy was a big part of this journey,” she says. “We’ve had this chemistry since the beginning. His no-bullshit filter is concentrated to the max. It’s so good to have that painfully honest voice in the room.” Emily King Home of Levon's legendary Midnight Rambles, and situated on 18 acres in historic Woodstock, NY, Levon Helm Studios hosts intimate concerts throughout the year in this one-of-a-kind musical landmark. Levon Helm Studios was constructed in 1975 from local hemlock, pine, and bluestone, and was designed and acoustically engineered by Levon himself.