Listen to a brand new song for NPR's Tiny Desk Contest!

Hey there. Sam here with a new song for you. If you think someone else might like it, then it’s for them too!

a few notes

NPR runs their Tiny Desk Contest every year. They invite bands like us to record a video in front of a tiny desk, then invite a lucky winner to their offices to perform. This is a song from my 28-in-28-days challenge last August/September. I hope you like it.

Performed and written by Hello Emerson Daniel Seibert on percussion Jack Doran on keys Sam Emerson Bodary on voice and guitar Video by King Productions (https://portfolio.kingedits.com/) thanks to a generous skill swap from David at Yellow Weld (https://www.yellowweld.com/)

lyrics

When I wake up I reach for my coffee cup
Not full but just full enough
To raise a toast
To ambition to big plans
To booking some shows
Where we play to more than just the band
That played before us
And the one next up
Would that feel like enough?

Cause I might not be In love with this honestly
All the promo and content
And the hustle and bustle
And the Siren calls To NYC

Would it be enough to just do this kind of stuff
On work nights and weekends
With family and work friends
To build a community and tour inconsistently
Hopscotching on PTO
And say no no

No competition
No PR
No good distribution
So the vinyl we press can go far
To find strangers like me
Browsing aimlessly
Stack by stack
Do we deserve that?

My ambition is small plans
It’s writing some songs
That won’t ever be covered again
And playing with friends for
Friends of friends
And if something happens
Something happens

But when I wake up
I reach for my darling love
Awake but not quite woken up

4-Track Cover | "I Needed You" by Eliza Edens

A cover of "I Needed You" by Eliza Edens on my Zoom recorder's 4-track setting featuring several barbers giving the neighbor's roof a haircut.

See Eliza Edens and our band at Rambling House in Columbus on Friday 2/24 at 9p. Buy tickets here.

----lyrics

I want a simple house, simple man

Dancing in the wilderness

Never mind what I might find down the road again

Little car, dotted line

Are you passing through to another time?

Never know which one of us will bend

Wasn’t kind of you, wasn’t always true when

I needed you

Your flannel shirt, your calming words

I needed you

City lights, country nights

Playing pool and tossing dice

Never know who’s arms I’ll lay in

Coffee cup, wish me luck

Circle through the redux

Never know what cycle I’m spinnin’

Wasn’t kind of you, wasn’t always true when

I needed you

How cruel to be, this kind of free when

I needed you

Big heart, highway mind

Rock ‘n roll baby turn the dial

Never know what song I’m singin’

I’m a simple person with a simple truth

I want a simple way to love you but I

Never seem to know which way’s the wind

Wasn’t kind of you, wasn’t always true when

I needed you

Your soft t-shirt, your calm embrace

I needed you

I needed you

Listening Notes on “We Will Become the Flowers” by Eliza Edens

Eliza Edens’ record “We Will Become the Flowers” evokes Nick Drake from its outset — particularly an unbothered flute flitting between her stretched out melody with quick percussion, but never in the way of the guitar. The second track fingerpicks with a little flourish at the end of the line when lyrics lift away to make just a bit of space, passing our ear right to her thoughtful guitar playing before laying out more of the scene.

It’s a beautifully arranged record. I love beautifully arranged records — and I hope that you agree that our records are beautifully arranged. But sometimes when I hear a beautifully arranged record, I have a quiet worry that the live performance won’t live up without the additional instrumentation. I have no such worries here. The songs shine through, and will shine even brighter in a room of people.

I am eager to hear her words and her guitar — on Friday, February 24th at Rambling House in Columbus. Tickets are available now.



“Children with the Blues” comes out on February 24th — pre-save it today.

We are releasing our first new song in three years. This is what the art looks like.

You can help us out for free by “pre-saving” it. Here’s what that means.

Spotify playlists are one way that our music finds new ears. They (‘they’ meaning some odd combination of algorithms and playlist editors… I think?) have the ability to put new music onto popular playlists, sharing that song with many new listeners. Some will not like our music, and others will. That’s just how it goes.

I sometimes think of songs like little tools. They exist to help people do something. Sometimes the purpose is just to facilitate a quiet moment of reflection, sometimes an invitation to grieve someone you lost, sometimes an opportunity to turn the fuck up and dance it all away.

Pre-saving our new single will give our little song more of an opportunity to be useful to people, from close friends to people we haven’t met yet. I am optimistic that this song may make some people feel less lonely — so I’d be eager for your help getting it to the right ears.

Consider this a long-winded invitation to click this link to pre-save our track. Or even buy tickets to the release show on February 24th at Rambling House with Eliza Edens.

Best wishes,

sam


New song on 2/24 + release show w/ Eliza Edens at Columbus' Rambling House!

We are playing a **SINGLE RELEASE** show with Eliza Edens (NYC/Boston) at Rambling House on Friday February 24th. We will be playing as a four-piece band and celebrating the first single of 2023, “Children with the Blues.” Come join us for a nice, nice time. Click for tickets.

Also, dozens parcels with stickers and merch are headed through the door and out to Idaho, Maine, Oregon, California, Utah, Wisconsin, and all across Ohio.

I managed to find a few extra mugs, aprons, and first pressings of the first record. Inventory is updated on the website — if they are listed, I’m ready to ship them to you.

A few folks ordered handwritten lyrics! I do those for any song that I’ve written. Feel free to check out examples on the website and contact me there if you’ve got other questions or requests for your *bespoke* artwork.

Stickers are still free! Up to two per order now, so we can keep it going longer! Go get em!

Handwritten Song Lyrics
Handwritten Song Lyrics

Turn your favorite song into a one of a kind art piece!

All lyric sheets are personally handwritten by the songwriter on high quality 8.5x11” white cardstock with Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine pens. Choose to have simply lyrics, or request a few small (but relevant) doodles!

Safely ships via USPS in a manila envelope reinforced with recycled cardboard.

Song:
Would you like your lyrics with small doodles, or doodle-free?:
Quantity:
Add To Cart

Free stickers!

I’d like to ship you free stickers through the mail. No strings attached. No questions asked. No shipping fee.

Hello Emerson Logo Sticker
Hello Emerson Logo Sticker
$3.00
Quantity:
Add To Cart

Literally just free Hello Emerson stickers and a small note in a little envelope from my home to yours. Up to five per order, if you’ve got room in your life for them.

Why do I want to do this?

One: I have extra stamps, stickers, and envelopes.

Two: Social media is a fraught beast to continue feeding. In order to communicate with a lot of the people who like our music, we are cajoled by tech companies to pay them ad money to make sure you see our updates. It’s much easier and cheaper to just send you an email once in a while. In exchange for your email at checkout, you get stickers! (But if that doesn’t work for you — you can always opt out!)

Three: We would like to see where we should come play shows. As we plan out some short tours, we will be more likely to come to places where we know we have listeners — and we’ll be able to email you directly to let you know when we’ll be near your zip code for a show.

Four: I don’t really want to ask you to stay plugged in to social media to know what we’re up to — especially if it can be quietly harmful to you, like it is to me. So the website, and the email list, will always be there.

So, that’s it. I’d like to do this until the end of March. See you in your mailbox soon.

sam