Miss Emily releases new album and title track single "The Medicine" today.
- Rock Metal Machine
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
JUNO-nominated and Maple Blues Award winning Miss Emily returns with her new album, The Medicine. Released by Gypsy Soul Records on November 7th, the album is produced by Grammy winner Colin Linden (Keb’ Mo’, Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Gregg Allman, Diana Krall). To coincide, the focus track “The Medicine” will also be released.
The title track “The Medicine” is an empathetic plea to understand one of the most complex issues of our times. It was written after a family member of an overdose victim reached out to Emily to write a song representing the victims and families affected by overdose.
The new album blends soul, blues, and roots, and features an all-star cast of musicians at the top of their game. Including players from Bob Dylan and Keb’ Mo’s bands, the new album pairs her thunderous voice with songs of truth and resilience. Known for her powerful voice and exhilarating live shows, Miss Emily channels two decades of raw experience into music that heals and uplifts.
Miss Emily has a voice that demands your attention. She is never predictable. She values community above all else. For more than 20 years she has channelled those principles in her songwriting and performance, never shying away from an open conversation with her audience about the struggles she has faced.
Whether it was domestic violence or being a musical road-warrior and a single mother at the same time, Emily has always opened her heart in a communal invitation to share, heal and celebrate.
During the writing process for The Medicine that commitment was tested. “I wasn’t in a great head space,” she says, her voice cracking under the emotional weight of the memory. “Like so many of us, sometimes life brings you down. In one of my darker moments, I wrote an angry song. Then, as I continued prepping the songs, I realised I didn’t want anger to be a prominent theme on my new album. I wanted to celebrate community. I wanted to record music that made people feel better.”
The Medicine is just that; a collection of soul and Americana-inspired blues. The album is produced by Nashville-based JUNO and Grammy winner Colin Linden and features a hand-picked team of amazing musicians including Linden on slide and electric guitar, Keb’ Mo’s keyboardist, Michael Hicks on the Hammond B3 and George Receli; a drummer who Keith Richards lists as one of his favourites. Receli’s resume includes 20 years as Bob Dylans’s drummer.
The talent Linden curated and Miss Emily’s passion for the music is front and centre on The Medicine. “Miss Emily is a tremendously passionate and supple singer, with a deep well of emotion, says Linden. “She is a truth teller. Working with her was pure joy.”
That inclination towards joyful truth was cultivated over more than two decades of playing night after night in bars and nightclubs along the busy Canadian highway corridor between Toronto and Montreal. Along with exhilarating, heart-wrenching performances, Emily developed a work ethic that drew the attention of promoters at regional theatres and festivals. In 2019 Miss Emily won three Canadian Maple Blues awards: Female Vocalist of the year, Newcomer of the year and Video of the Year. In 2022, she was nominated for a JUNO for Blues Album of the Year and won Maple Blues Female Vocalist of the year in 2021 and 2023.
Brad Wheeler of Canada’s national newspaper, the Globe and Mail said it perfectly, “She’s got a voice on her like big velvet thunder.”
That thunderous voice is highlighted on the soulful, anthemic first single “Stand Together, Band Together,” a celebration and reflection of community and humanity. These are the cornerstones of everything Miss Emily has been doing for more than two decades. At some point every night, on every tour, in every venue, she will open her arms wide and invite the people to join her in song. It’s a momentary risk but as the voices fill the room in unison and celebration, it’s an affirmation that, in this unpredictable world, the communal celebration of music is the medicine that binds us together.
ALBUM TRACK LISTING
1. My Freedom (3:01)
2. Stand Together, Band Together (5:23)
3. The Medicine (3:28)
4. Maybe (4:12)
5. You Make Believe (3:04)
6. Running Again (3:25)
7. Solid Ground (4:11)
8. Smith’s Bay Drowning (4:36)
9. Remember This Song (5:20)
ALBUM TRACK BY TRACK
1 – My Freedom
A funky reflection on refusing to allow the past to define yourself and on finding redemption and celebration in what’s ahead.
2 – Stand Together, Band Together
A soulful singalong that embraces the idea that my struggle is your struggle, your struggle is my struggle and none of us gets through this world alone.
3 – The Medicine
Written a few years ago after a family member of an overdose victim reached out to Emily and asked her to write a song to represent the victims and families of overdose victims, it’s an empathetic plea to understand one of the most complex issues of our times.
4 – Maybe
The Tragically Hip’s lead guitarist Rob Baker laid down the 60’s inspired musical bed for this love song that doesn’t make promises or pledge eternal love, it simply says, “I’m not telling you maybe,” and that’s enough.
5 – You Make Believe
A “want to be” love song stuck in the reality of wounded hearts and the fear of being hurt again.
6 – Running Again
Propelled by a relentless bass and drum groove and a hook-laden chorus, it’s an account of the constant motion in every relationship.
7 – Solid Ground
Every mother wants to pave the way for their child, but few have done it as honestly and eloquently as Miss Emily does in this soulful future letter to her young daughter.
8 – Smiths Bay Drowning
A haunting true story poem set to melody by Emily’s music mentor Suzanne Pasternak. The tragedy took place in the island community of Prince Edward County where Emily is 8th generation of her family raised there. The story is a common theme of rural island life and living and working on Lake Ontario.
9 – Remember This Song
The plaintive lead guitar of Colin Linden is a perfect compliment to Miss Emily’s soaring vocals in this searing slow blues treatise on the power of a song to lift, strengthen and heal.
MISS EMILY – BIOGRAPHY
In the 1990’s, 12-year-old Emily Fennell from Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada, got an early education on the power of community. She spent the summer competing in and winning dozens of county fair singing contests. While the other competitors chose standards like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” or “I Will Always Love You,” Emily stunned audiences into silent amazement with K.D. Lang’s version of the Patsy Cline song “Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray.”
That song choice, her spellbinding performance of it, and the venues in which she chose to display her talents, is everything you need to know about the woman who would become Miss Emily. She has a voice that demands your attention, she is never predictable, and she values community more than anything else.
For more than 20 years she has channelled those principles in her songwriting and performance, never shying away from an open conversation with her audience about the struggles she has faced. Whether it was misogynistic encounters with old-school promoters, domestic violence, or being a musical road-warrior and a single mother at the same time, Emily has always opened her heart in a communal invitation to share, heal and celebrate.
During the writing process for her upcoming album that commitment was tested. “I wasn’t in a great head space,” she acknowledged, her voice cracking under the emotional weight of the memory. “Like so many of us, sometimes life brings you down. In one of my darker moments, I wrote an angry song. Then, as I continued prepping the songs, I realized I did not want anger to be a prominent theme on my new album. I wanted to celebrate community and record music that made people feel better.”
MISS EMILY
Comments