4-Track Cover | "Like the Wheel" by The Tallest Man on Earth

Summer is difficult for me for some reason. Something about all of the social activities and the long days make life feel impossible to keep up with. I am more of a fall and winter person. I am more comfortable in that slowness. Nevertheless, the garden grows and the outdoor shows keep humming along.

When I feel like this, songs are a source of comfort and strength. So, I recorded this version of one of my favorite Tallest Man on Earth songs. I remember learning this song early in my guitar-playing. It’s in an open D9 tuning (DADEAD) that I’ve since used to write about a third of my released songs. It’s special to me - both the tuning and this song in particular. Enjoy.

Also, we play Rumba Cafe in Columbus, Ohio this Wednesday night with Eliza Edens and October Ember. Come hang for beautiful songs. Grab tickets here to save a few bucks.

Best wishes to your summer,

Sam

Upcoming Shows

4-Track Cover | "Nowhere" by Charlotte Cornfield

I love Charlotte Cornfield. I found her first through her 2019 record The Shape of Your Name after discovering that Leif Vollbekk (who you should also listen to) played on the record. She paints scenes in her songs that feel so comfortable and lived in, with arrangements that seem to make room for the listener to fill in the details, rather than forcing the listener to see things exactly the way that the producer/songwriter/artist wants them to be seen. I love that. She made this record with Josh Kaufman of Bonny Light Horseman; it’s a match made in heaven. Apparently heaven is in Canada.

Anyway, I’m hoping and wishing for her to play Columbus because she puts out songs that hit me the same way that Ezra Furman’s songs hit me in middle school. The blissful and bewildering reaction of, “Oh my gosh… you can write a song like that? That’s allowed too?” Her songs put me back in that stage of wonder and lights a fire under my bum to get back to the drafting table.

Hope you enjoy this little bit from the record recorded with Dan, our percussionist and music director at the tail end of a band meeting a little while ago.

Our song found its way into a NYT bestseller!

Tl;dr — Our song, “Seat 16b” found its way into a NYT bestseller. I covered this Mountain Goats song in gratitude. Go read Maggie Smith’s new book.

I read Maggie Smith’s “You Could Make This Place Beautiful” about two weeks ago. I sat with it, and it sat with me. She’s a Columbus writer, and I’ve loved her writing for years. I got to meet her at the release show for our second record, just before covid hit.

In her new book, she mentions our song, “Seat 16b” as part of a playlist that her daughter made for her son of his favorite songs. I remember them all coming to an outside show post-covid, and talking to her son after. We played his favorite song last; what a relief that it was on the setlist at all!

Thanks, Maggie. Thanks for continuing to make space to keep writing, moving, and living. I’m flattered your son is a fan, and touched that your daughter put us on his playlist. And entirely humbled to find our band printed in such a gorgeous book.

I’d recommend buying a copy, or borrowing one from the library, reading it all, and finding us on page 297.

But Sam, why cover this Mountain Goats song?

In the book, she mentioned writing a tweet during the events of the book: “Photo essay that won't happen: Divorced woman drives her rumpled c. 2005 wedding dress across the country and takes photos of it in various locations. It's a metaphorical "Weekend at Bernie's" sans stapled-on toupee and sunglasses, because the dead thing is the marriage.”

John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats picked this up by tweeting, “this would be a song called "Picture of My Dress" imo.” Then, he wrote and recorded it.

So, two weeks ago, I sat in my orange chair, reading this amazing book by a favorite writer, learning that her writing inspired a favorite songwriter to write a song. I suppose inspiration is an endless cycle if we’re willing to kick the ball along when it comes to us.

Here’s to kicking it along.

4-Track Cover | "Hide" by The Cordial Sins

The Cordial Sins just put out their debut album called Small Talk.

It is good! I recorded a cover of one of the songs, called “Hide.” You can watch it below.

Support their crowdfunding campaign!

They are running a pre-order sale to press their new record on vinyl. I love pressing things on vinyl, and I’ve already made my pre-order. I think you should do that to. Click this link to learn more, or go to www.thecordialsins.com.

procrastination via birding

feeling terribly behind on mostly self-imposed deadlines and hoping to toss up a video on thursday -- all because i spent the weekend close to lake erie finding rare birds and taking snapshots of them.

so anyway here's a stern look from a gorgeous purple gallinule i met last weekend because after all it was indeed worth it.

New single on Friday 4/28! (And more!)

We have a new single that comes out on Friday 4/28! You can pre-save it at this link.

I’ve recently been able to make some space in my life to learn new things, and mixing is one of them! This is the first Hello Emerson song that I took lead mix engineer role on, supported by great and talented collaborators and friends. It’s called, “Forever Stamps.”

We are playing a single release show at Rambling House in Columbus on Sunday 4/30. Tickets here.

We are playing with Toledo’s folk hero, Ben Stalets. He might even bring his dog! It is a full band show for us — so consider joining. Doors are at 7, music at 8 — so you can be at home in bed by 10PM!

We are approaching social media as a science project at the moment. Feel invited to check out @helloemersongs on TikTok and YouTube (but only if you want!)

I am more comfortable when I don’t interact with social media so much, but I am exploring ways to make it work for me as an individual. Right now, I am recording song covers at home on Mondays as an opportunity to live inside songs that I love, find out what makes them tick, play different instruments, edit videos, and do some basic mixing. I am making these videos and covers primarily because it is deeply good for me; as a bonus, we can share some of them! Full videos will end up on YouTube and the blog, and then get scrobbled out to Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

I’m thankful for friends and collaborators and the space to grow in our own ways and on our own terms, keeping the algorithm at arms length, but not ignoring it altogether. I am sometimes uncomfortable, but that also means that I am growing. And I love to grow nearly as much as I love songs.

Songs always,

Sam